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A drone claimed by Yemen’s Houthi rebels broke through Israel’s vaunted air defenses and struck a building near the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv on Friday, killing one person.
Yahya Sari, a spokesman for the Iran-backed Yemeni movement, said on social media that the Houthis launched a “new type of drone called ‘Jaffa’, which is capable of bypassing the enemy’s interception systems” towards Tel Aviv.
An Israeli military official said a “very large” drone was used in the attack on Israel’s commercial capital, explaining that “human error” prevented the drone from being intercepted.
The Houthis have launched dozens of drone and missile attacks on ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since November, actions they claim are an act of solidarity with the Palestinians during the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
They have claimed attacks on Israeli cities in the past, including Eilat, Ashdod and Haifa, but Friday’s attack appeared to be the first time the rebels had broken through Israel’s tight air defenses.
Earlier, they threatened to escalate the situation.
Israeli military officials told reporters that the attack used “large drones capable of flying long distances”, which took place at 3:12 a.m. (0012 GMT) and killed one person.
He said anonymously that although the plane was detected, no alarm was immediately sounded due to “human error” and it eventually crashed into an apartment building.
Police said a man was found “dead in his apartment” with shrapnel wounds, while emergency services said four people were taken to hospital with “relatively minor” injuries.
– ‘Everything is gone’ –
An AFP reporter said the explosion occurred on a street about 100 meters from a building housing the U.S. Embassy in Israel, and he saw windows of many apartment buildings on both sides of the street were broken.
Kenneth Davis, an Israeli who lives in a hotel across from the attacked building, said: “I was awakened by the vibration of the sound, like a 747 flying in.”
“Then there was an explosion… everything in the room blew up, the windows, everything on the ceiling, I had nothing heavy on me but there were a lot of fragments,” he told AFP television.
Israeli military officials said a Houthi attack was “one of the possibilities” being investigated.
He said another drone was spotted on Israel’s eastern border and “thwarted” overnight, but he gave no details about its origin.
In recent weeks, the Iraqi Islamic Resistance, a loose alliance of Iran-backed groups, has claimed drone attacks on Israeli targets and described many of them as “joint operations” with the Houthis.
The Gaza war, which began with an attack on Israel by Palestinian Hamas militants on Oct. 7, has killed 1,195 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli data.
The militants also took 251 hostages, 116 of whom remain in Gaza, and the Israeli military said 42 had died.
Israel’s military reprisals have killed at least 38,848 people, mostly civilians, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, where heavy fighting broke out on Friday.
Gaza war rages
Residents reported hearing clashes between Palestinian fighters and Israeli troops, as well as explosions and shelling in the Tal Hawa district of Gaza City.
The war destroyed much of Gaza’s housing and other infrastructure, leaving almost the entire population displaced and lacking food and drinking water.
Many people live in unsanitary conditions. Gaza and Israeli health authorities said on Thursday that the highly contagious polio virus had been detected in sewage samples in Gaza.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said: “The humanitarian situation … is a moral stain on us all.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly insisted that Israel will not ease up its crackdown on Hamas despite growing pressure at home and abroad.
Far-right members of Netanyahu’s ruling coalition oppose the ceasefire, including National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who said on Thursday that Netanyahu must not reach a “surrender” deal with Hamas.
Netanyahu is due to address the U.S. Congress next Wednesday.
The White House said President Joe Biden was expected to meet with him, but that would depend on the US leader’s recovery.
Netanyahu’s visit came after Israeli lawmakers passed a symbolic resolution opposing the creation of a Palestinian state, a move criticized by the United Nations and clashing with U.S. ambitions in the region.
Despite Israel’s veto vote, the White House reiterated Biden’s commitment to a two-state solution.
“I think the best way for me to respond to this is to reiterate our strong belief in the power and prospects of a two-state solution,” said National Security Council spokesman John Kirby.
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