Yemen’s Houthi rebels claim responsibility for drone attack in Tel Aviv that killed one person and injured at least ten

AMI BENTOV, SAM METZ, Associated Press

5 mins ago

People watch from their balconies as Israeli police investigate the scene of a deadly explosion in Tel Aviv, Israel, Friday, July 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed responsibility Friday for a drone attack that struck part of downtown Tel Aviv near the U.S. Embassy early in the morning, leaving at least 10 people injured and one dead.

The airstrike roared through the streets, raining down shrapnel and scattering shards of glass. The Houthis have repeatedly fired drones and rockets at Israel during the nine-month war in solidarity with the Palestinian people and against Israel. But until Friday, all attacks had been intercepted by either Israel or Western allies with troops stationed in the region.

Yahya Sare’e, the Houthis’ spokesman, said in a statement posted on social media platform X that the attack was in retaliation for the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip and hit one of many targets of the group.

The Houthis claimed their latest drones could evade Israel’s air defense systems. However, an Israeli military spokesman said Friday that the explosive-laden drone was identified on Thursday and attributed the attack to “human error.” The military’s assessment of the aerial threat has not changed, as Israel’s opponents have been attempting such attacks for months, the military said.

“It was a terrorist attack aimed at killing civilians in Israel,” the Israeli spokesman said.

The Houthis’ attack came hours after the Israeli military confirmed that one of its airstrikes had killed a Hezbollah commander and other militants in southern Lebanon. Israel has so far refrained from attacking the Houthis, letting its allies take the lead as it focuses its efforts on the war in Gaza and ongoing fighting with the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

This comes as international mediators continue to hope for a ceasefire and push Israel and Hamas toward a phased agreement that would halt fighting and release about 120 hostages held by the militant group in the Gaza Strip.

Prospects for a deal may be improving as Israeli leaders signal that their ongoing operation in Rafah is nearing completion. But fears of a potential escalation resurfaced on Thursday after Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir visited Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site on Thursday to pray for the return of Israeli hostages, saying “without a reckless deal, without surrender.”

Local police in Tel Aviv said Friday’s explosion occurred at about 3:10 a.m., reverberating into surrounding towns and injuring at least 10 people. Tel Aviv district commander Peretz Amar said officials had not been able to pinpoint the impact site, suggesting the explosion was airborne.

“The force of the explosion did not cause much damage, but it covered a large area. At the moment we do not know what the object was,” said Amar.

Israel has a layered air defense system capable of intercepting threats ranging from long-range missiles to drones and short-range rockets. These systems have intercepted thousands of missiles over the course of the war. However, officials warn that they are not 100 percent effective, and the systems appear to have struggled against small and hard-to-detect attack drones. It is not known which system, if any, was used.

Like Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis are backed by Israel’s arch-enemy Iran. Israel has largely avoided direct confrontation with Iran throughout the war. In a single incident in April, Iran fired hundreds of drones and missiles at Israel in response to Israel’s alleged assassination of two Iranian generals in Syria.

The war in Gaza, sparked by Hamas’s October 7 attack on southern Israel, has killed more than 38,600 people, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between fighters and civilians in its count. The war has unleashed a humanitarian catastrophe in the Palestinian coastal territory, displacing most of its 2.3 million residents and causing widespread hunger.

The Hamas attack in October left 1,200 people dead, most of them civilians, and about 250 were taken hostage by the terrorists. About 120 people are still in captivity, and about a third of them are said to be dead, according to Israeli authorities.

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Metz reported from Rabat, Morocco.

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