News on the Gaza War | Drone attack on Tel Aviv: 1 fatality and at least 10 injured

A massive explosion rocked the streets of central Tel Aviv early Friday morning after an apparent drone attack triggered a rain of shrapnel. At least ten people were injured and one died, authorities said.

Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for the attack. 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, but an Israeli military official said on Friday that the explosive-laden drone had already been identified on Thursday and attributed the hit to “human error.”

The 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.

Moreover, this came a day after Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir visited Jerusalem’s most important holy site on Thursday, a move that jeopardized negotiations to end the nine-month war in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli negotiators were in Cairo on Wednesday to advance talks on a ceasefire and the release of hostages as Israel and Hamas consider the latest proposal. In recent weeks, Israel has stepped up its attacks on central Gaza, where many Palestinians have fled to escape fighting in other parts of the besieged territory.

The war was triggered by the Hamas attack on October 7, when militants entered southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people – mostly civilians – and abducting around 250. Since then, according to the Gaza Strip’s Health Ministry, more than 38,600 people have died in Gaza as a result of Israeli ground offensives and bombings. The count does not distinguish between fighters and civilians.

Two international courts have accused Israel of war crimes and genocide – charges Israel denies. Most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people live crammed into squalid tent camps in the center and south of the Gaza Strip. Israeli restrictions, fighting and the breakdown of law and order have limited humanitarian aid, leading to widespread hunger and fear of famine.

Here is the latest information:

Hezbollah says it fired rockets at a northern Israeli village

Beirut – The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah said it fired a barrage of rockets at a village in northern Israel on Friday morning in retaliation for Israeli airstrikes the night before on southern Lebanon that killed several Hezbollah members and injured civilians.

In another attack, the group also said it had used a new rocket with a heavy warhead for the first time to attack an Israeli army base in the disputed hills of Kfar Chouba. In a statement, Hezbollah said the Wabel rocket, produced by the group in Lebanon, destroyed parts of the Rweisat al-Alam base and sparked a fire there.

Hezbollah said its fighters fired a salvo of rockets at the northern Israeli village of Abirim for the first time since fighting began along the Lebanese-Israeli border in early October.

Shortly after Hamas’s attack on October 7, Hezbollah began firing rockets, claiming it was trying to relieve pressure on Gaza. Since then, Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon have killed over 450 people, most of them Hezbollah members, but also around 90 civilians and civilians. On the Israeli side, 21 soldiers and 13 civilians were killed.

Yemen’s Houthi rebels claim responsibility for drone attack on Tel Aviv

Tel Aviv – Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed responsibility early Friday for a drone attack that hit parts of downtown Tel Aviv near the U.S. embassy, ​​killing one person and wounding ten.

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, but an Israeli military official said on Friday that the explosive-laden drone had already been identified on Thursday and attributed the hit to “human error.”

“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.