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

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Yemen’s Houthi rebels have claimed responsibility for a drone attack early Friday that struck parts of downtown Tel Aviv near the U.S. Embassy, ​​killing one person and wounding 10.

The airstrike roared through the streets, raining down shrapnel and scattering shards of glass. The Houthis have fired drones and rockets at Israel throughout the war between Israel and Hamas, 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 retaliation for the war and hit one of the group’s many targets.

The Houthis claimed their latest drones could evade Israel’s air defense systems. However, an Israeli military official said Friday that the explosive-laden drone had already been 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 official said of the attack, the first to threaten Tel Aviv in months.

Israeli police and first responders gather at the scene of a deadly explosion in Tel Aviv, Israel, early Friday, July 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Erik Marmor)

Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS/Erik Marmor

Local police said the 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 occurred in the air. However, the Israeli military said it had not yet determined whether the drone – or parts of it – struck any buildings.

In the coastal area, windows of several buildings were shattered and cars damaged. People flocked to the area while police helicopters circled overhead.

Many of the roughly 60,000 Israelis who were evacuated from their homes at the start of the war have found shelter in the area, sparking a renewed sense of disillusionment for many with how the military has handled the war over the past nine months.

Yossi Nevi, a retired evacuee from Kiryat Shmona who lives in a nearby Tel Aviv hotel, said the explosion jolted him awake as he watched the aftermath from his balcony and his confidence in the army’s war-fighting skills plummeted. He said many had expected such an attack from the north, but the military said that was not the case.

When he heard that it was a human error, Nevi said he “lost all faith in the army, even though I didn’t have much of it after the past nine months.”

Eldad Namdar, the owner of a camera shop next to the intersection where the drone exploded, said some of his belongings fell but no major damage was done. While he hopes the war will end soon, he also wants it to end in a way that secures his future.

“I don’t want something like this to happen again in six months. I want them to see this situation through to the end,” he 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.

The Houthis have regularly claimed responsibility for attacks on targets in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. They claim their attacks target vessels linked to Israel, the United States or the United Kingdom, but many of them have little or no connection to the war. Friday’s drone attack on Tel Aviv could revive fears that the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza is expanding into a regional conflagration, as international mediators continue to push for a ceasefire. The discussed three-phase deal would halt fighting and release about 120 hostages held by the militant group in Gaza.

Such fears are at odds with renewed hopes that Israel’s signals that its operation in Rafah is nearing an end could create a more negotiable climate. The country remains divided over reaching a deal. Some want the government to take the necessary steps to release the hostages, while others, including far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, oppose the idea. On Thursday, Ben-Gvir visited Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site to pray for the return of the Israeli hostages, he said, “without a reckless deal, without surrender.”

Israel has a layered air defense system capable of intercepting threats from long-range missiles to drones and short-range rockets. These systems have intercepted thousands of missiles over the course of the war. But officials warn they are not 100 percent effective, and the systems appear to struggle against small and hard-to-detect attack drones. A military official said the system identified the weapon but was not set to alert in the event of an attack due to human error.

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. Michael Wakin contributed from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

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