Israeli officials warned Yemen’s Houthis could face strikes similar to those recently carried out against their sponsors in Iran, after Israel intercepted a missile launched from Yemen toward the Jewish state on Tuesday night.
“Yemen's law is the same as Tehran's. After we struck the head of the snake in Tehran, we will also strike the Houthis in Yemen,” Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement, referring to the 12-day conflict with Iran.
“Whoever raises a hand against Israel — that hand will be cut off,” he added.
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee also reacted, referencing the same operation. “Maybe those B2 bombers need to visit Yemen,” he wrote on X, referring to the American stealth bombers used in the strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
“Fortunately, Israel's incredible interception system means we go to the shelter and wait until all clear," he added.
The Houthis said they had carried out three operations against Israel on Tuesday.
Since the outbreak of the Gaza war, Yemen’s Houthis have launched missiles, rockets, and drones toward Israel and enforced a maritime disruption in the Red Sea, in what it describes as support for Palestinians in Gaza.
The escalation comes following a ceasefire deal announced on May 6, in which President Donald Trump said the US would stop bombing the Houthis after they agreed to halt attacks on key shipping lanes.
Oman, which mediated the agreement, said both sides committed not to target each other, including US vessels in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab Strait.
The ceasefire agreement, however, did not include Houthi attacks on Israel, according to the group's spokesperson.
Last month, the group's rivals in Yemeni government said that Iran is transferring parts of its military industry, including ballistic missile and drone production to Houthi-controlled areas in Saada, Hajjah, and the outskirts of Sanaa.
Moammar al-Eryani, information minister of Yemen's internationally-recognized government urged the world to treat the threat seriously.
Evin Prison, long a symbol of Iran’s political repression, was rocked by explosions that destroyed key facilities, including several wards, its infirmary, and the visitation hall — with immediate and devastating consequences.
Among the dead were two prison officials, Ruhollah Tavasoli and Vahid Heydarpour, as well as Evin's top prosecutor Ali Ghanaatkar. Tens of detainees, medical staff, visiting families — including a young child — and even a bystander were also killed.
A judiciary spokesman said on June 29 that 71 people had been confirmed dead, though the authorities have yet to release a full list of victims.
While Evin is widely known for holding political dissidents, journalists, students, and others charged under vague national security laws, it also houses inmates convicted of financial crimes and debt — people often awaiting bail or legal review, far removed from any political involvement.
The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) condemned the strike as a “grave breach of international humanitarian law,” stressing that Evin Prison “was not a military objective.”
Names, not statistics
The victims of the June 23 strike are emerging not as statistics, but as lives brutally cut short.
Mehrad had accompanied his mother, Zahra Ebadi, one of seven prison social workers confirmed killed. Witnesses said Mehrad was playing in a prison playroom while his mother helped inmates draft letters.
When the first missile hit, a colleague rushed to shield him, but a concrete slab collapsed on them both. Neither survived.
Leila Jafarzadeh, a young mother of a one-year-old girl, had come to post bail for her husband, reportedly imprisoned over a financial dispute. Her body was found two days later, after her family scoured hospitals and morgues across Tehran in desperation.
Another victim, Mehrangiz Imanpour, wasn’t even inside the prison. A painter and longtime Tehran resident, she had stepped out for a walk near her home just 200 meters from the facility when the blast hit.
Her ex-husband, Reza Khandan Mahabadi, a former political prisoner, later found her body in the morgue.
“Mehrangiz was the beauty in the lives of my children,” he wrote on Instagram. “The war between two reactionary and warmongering regimes took the beauty of their lives away two days ago.”
Media reports suggest other victims included two prison doctors, a nurse, and several administrative staff and guards — many of them young conscripts, unarmed and unprepared.
Relocation of prisoners
In the aftermath of the strike, survivors described frantic and at times violent evacuations.
“We were handcuffed, chained together and violently dragged out,” said Mostafa Tajzadeh, a prominent dissident, in a phone call to his family.
Inmates were transferred to Greater Tehran Prison, Ghezel Hesar, and the notorious Qarchak Women’s Prison, where they now face severe overcrowding, unsanitary conditions, and a shortage of food and clean water.
Some injured or ill prisoners have reportedly been denied medical treatment and left without access to vital prescription medications.
Meanwhile, many families still have no information on the fate of their loved ones.
Among the missing is Motahareh Goonei, a student activist arrested early in the Israel-Iran war after posting criticism of Iran’s leadership online. She was reportedly held in Ward 209, operated by Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence. Her family has not heard from her since the attack.
Also missing are Ahmadreza Jalali, a Swedish-Iranian physician on death row, and French nationals Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris, who are held on widely disputed espionage charges. Their families have been denied all contact and updates.