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Israel has instructed its diplomatic missions in Europe to try to get the Iran-backed Houthi group in Yemen designated as a terrorist organisation.

"The Houthis pose a threat not only to Israel but also to the region and the entire world. The first and most basic thing to do is to designate them as a terrorist organisation," Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar said in a statement.

The Houthis have repeatedly fired drones and missiles towards Israel in what the group describes as acts of solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.

Israel's military said the projectile was intercepted before crossing into Israeli territory, but it set off air raid sirens overnight in the country's populous central area, sending residents looking for cover.

Israel’s rescue service Magen David Adom said a 60-year-old woman was seriously wounded after being hurt on her way to a protected space.

There was no immediate comment from Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels.

It was the third time in a week that fire from Yemen set off sirens in Israel.

On Saturday, a missile slammed into a playground in Tel Aviv, injuring 16, after Israel’s air defense system failed to intercept it.

Earlier last week, Israeli jets struck Yemen’s rebel-held capital and a port city, killing nine. Israel said the strikes were in response to previous Houthi attacks.

Hannah Katzir, an Israeli woman who was taken hostage on 7 October, 2023, and freed in a brief ceasefire last year, has died. She was 78.

The Hostages Families Forum, a group representing the families of people taken captive, confirmed the death Tuesday but did not disclose the cause.

Her daughter, Carmit Palty Katzir said in a statement that her mother’s "heart could not withstand the terrible suffering since October 7."

Katzir’s husband, Rami, was killed during the attack by operatives who raided their home in Kibbutz Nir Oz.

Her son Elad was also kidnapped and his body was recovered in April by the Israeli military, who said he had been killed in captivity.

She spent 49 days in captivity and was freed in late November 2023.

Shortly after Katzir was freed, her daughter told Israeli media that she had been hospitalised with heart issues attributed to "difficult conditions and starvation" while she was held captive.

More than 25,000 Syrians have returned home from Turkey since Bashar al-Assad was overthrown by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham rebels, Turkey's interior minister said Tuesday.

Turkey is home to nearly three million refugees who fled the civil war that broke out in 2011, and whose presence has been an issue for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government.

"The number of people returning to Syria in the last 15 days has exceeded 25,000," Ali Yerlikaya told the official Anadolu news agency.

Ankara is in close touch with Syria's new leaders and now focussing on the voluntary return of Syrian refugees, hoping the shift in power in Damascus will allow many of them to return home.

Yerlikaya said a migration office would be established in the Turkish embassy and consulate in Damascus and Aleppo so that the records of returning Syrians could be kept.

Turkey reopened its embassy in Damascus, nearly a week after Assad was toppled by forces backed by Ankara, and 12 years after the diplomatic outpost was shuttered early in Syria's civil war.

Yerlikaya said one person from each family will be given the right to enter and exit three times from January 1 to July 2025 under regulations to be drafted upon Erdogan's instructions.

Syrians returning to their country will be able to take their belongings and cars with them, he added.