Direct proof of use
The F-35I Adir is directly documented in the 2023 Israel-Hamas War through an Israel Defense Forces press release published on November 2, 2023. The IDF said a cruise missile launched from the southeast toward Israeli airspace was detected by Israeli Air Force control and detection systems, tracked, and then intercepted after Adir fighters were scrambled.
The same IDF page was published inside the IDF's Israel-at-war press-release collection and tagged to the Israel-Hamas war and the Israeli Air Force. Breaking Defense separately reported the IDF statement and identified the aircraft as F-35I Adir fighters, describing the engagement as the first known cruise-missile intercept by the F-35 family.
Sources: IDF Adir Cruise Missile Intercept, Breaking Defense F-35I Cruise Missile Intercept
Timeline
Open reporting places the missile-intercept sequence at the end of October 2023, during the first month of the war that began after the October 7 Hamas-led attack on southern Israel. Axios reported on October 31 that Israel said it had intercepted a long-range ballistic missile and two cruise missiles fired by the Houthis from Yemen, with the two cruise missiles intercepted by Israeli fighter jets over the Red Sea.
On November 2, the IDF released the Adir-specific account of a cruise missile intercepted by the fighter formation and said an Arrow intercept of a surface-to-surface missile took place later the same day. Aviation Week reported the Adir cruise-missile shootdown as an October 31 event, citing the Israel Defense Force statement published on November 2.
Sources: Axios Houthi Missile Attack, IDF Adir Cruise Missile Intercept, Aviation Week F-35I Shootdown
Operational role
The documented Adir role in this conflict is air defense rather than a publicly identified Gaza strike. The IDF statement describes detection, tracking, scrambling, and interception of an inbound cruise missile before it entered Israeli airspace. It does not identify the exact launch site, the missile model, the Adir weapon used, or the precise intercept location.
Defense reporting connected the launch direction and the wider pattern of Houthi attacks to Yemen. FDD wrote that the missile was likely launched by the Iran-backed Houthis and noted that the Houthis had targeted Israel several times after October 7. The War Zone likewise treated a Houthi launch from Yemen as the probable origin while noting that the IDF had not provided exact time, location, or origin details for the intercept.
Sources: IDF Adir Cruise Missile Intercept, FDD Houthi Threat Brief, The War Zone F-35 Cruise Missile Kill
