The Iran-backed group said several other senior officials were killed when the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) targeted Yemen's capital, Sanaa, on Thursday. The IDF said at the time that it attacked a Houthi "military target" in the Sanaa area, giving no further details. The Houthis have controlled much of north-western Yemen since 2014, after ousting the internationally recognised government from Sanaa and triggering a devastating civil war.

The Houthis said Rahawi had been killed alongside several Houthi ministers, though it did not name the others. Saudi Arabian news site al-Hadath reports the Houthis' foreign minister, as well as the ministers for justice, youth and sports, social affairs and labour, were killed. The office of Mahdi al-Mashat, the Houthis' president, said that several other ministers "sustained moderate and serious injuries" as a result of the strike. It added that Muhammad Ahmed Miftah, the Houthi deputy prime minister, would assume Rahawi's role.

Rahawi had held his post since August 2024, and was largely seen as a figurehead of the movement instead of being part of the top decision-making circle that plans military operations. Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, the movement's ultimate leader, as well as the group's defence minister and the chief of staff, were not said to be among the casualties in Thursday's attack. The IDF is yet to publicly comment on the latest developments.

Since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, the Houthis have regularly launched missiles at Israel and targeted commercial ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, saying they are acting in solidarity with the Palestinians. Israel has, in turn, carried out air strikes on targets in Houthi-held parts of Yemen, with the stated aim of curtailing Houthi attacks. (BBC)