Houthis’ Chief of Staff Is Dead Following Israeli Strike

The Iran-backed terror group has repeatedly launched missiles at Israel and attacked international vessels in the Red Sea

The Houthis on Thursday morning announced the death of their chief of staff, Muhammad Abd al-Karim al-Ghamari, who was targeted by Israel during an August strike. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has since confirmed al-Ghamari’s death.

The Iran-backed Yemeni terror group said that al-Ghamari died “while fulfilling his duties” and that Israel, which the terror group did not directly blame for the killing, will “receive its deterrent punishment for the crimes it has committed,” Reuters reported. Shortly after the news broke, Netanyahu confirmed on X that “another chief-of-staff in the line of terror chiefs who aimed to harm us was eliminated.”

The resolute hand of the State of Israel will reach everyone who aims to harm us and who sets their goal on destroying Israel.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu:
“Another chief-of-staff in the line of terror chiefs who aimed to harm us was eliminated. We will reach all of them”.

— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) October 16, 2025

In late August, Israel conducted a strike targeting al-Ghamari and other Houthi leaders in response to a wave of missile and drone attacks by the group. The Israeli strike eliminated the Houthi prime minister, foreign minister, and at least 10 other senior officials in the Houthi-controlled Yemeni capital of Sanaa. All the deaths had already been confirmed except for al-Ghamari’s.

Al-Ghamari, whom the U.S. Treasury Department and U.N. Security Council have sanctioned for destabilizing Yemen, has joined “his thwarted comrades of the evil axis in the depths of hell,” Israeli defense minister Israel Katz said Thursday morning, the Jerusalem Post reported.

The eliminated Houthi leaders played roles in the terror group’s missile and drone attacks against Israel. Since Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel, the Houthis have repeatedly launched missiles and drones at Israel in solidarity with Hamas, leading the State Department to designate them a foreign terrorist organization earlier this year. Israel began its counterstrikes in July 2024.

The Houthis have also attacked Israeli, American, and other international vessels in the Red Sea, including more than 100 between November 2023 and December 2024 alone, according to Reuters.