Houthis launch deadly drone attack on Tel Aviv

The blast just before 4am at a building near the US consulate in the coastal city killed one person and wounded several others.

Explosion in Tel Aviv

Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for a deadly drone attack on Tel Aviv on Friday, saying it marked a “new phase” in its operations against Israel.

The blast just before 4am at a building near the US consulate in the coastal city killed one person and wounded several others.

The Israel Defence Forces said the blast was caused by a drone, which had evaded Israel’s aerial defence systems.

The Magen David Adom ambulance service later said a man had been killed by shrapnel from the explosion. The man was found dead in a nearby building. Eight people had been taken to local hospitals, four of whom were wounded by shrapnel or the shockwave of the blast. The other four are being treated for anxiety.

Explosion in Tel Aviv. Photo: X

It was the first such attack on Israel’s commercial capital since the war in Gaza began more than nine months ago.

A spokesman for the Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for the explosion. The Houthis fired a “new drone called Yafa, whichis capable of bypassing the enemy’s interception systems”, the spokesman, Yahya Saree, said on social media.

It struck “one of the important targets in the occupied Jaffa region, what is now called Israeli Tel Aviv,” a Houthi statement said, adding “the operation has achieved its goals successfully”.

The Israeli army said the blast was “caused by the falling of an aerial target”. An Israeli military official who spoke on condition of anonymity said a “very big” drone had been detected but the alarm was not immediately raised because of “human error”. The IDF said the air force would increase patrols by fighter jets.

The Houthis pledged to turn Tel Aviv into a “primary target” after months of drone and missile attacks targeting shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden in response to the Gaza war.

Hezam Al Asad, a member of the Yemeni rebel movement’s politburo, called the strike “unprecedented”. In an interview withthe pro-Iranian channel Al Mayadeen, he said the attack marked a “new phase” of operations against Israel which would increase in the coming period.

Scenes right now from the streets of Tel Aviv where it’s 4 AM and a bomb just went off and we don’t know why or how or what. pic.twitter.com/Z8zVJvRYq5

— Brooke Goldstein (@GoldsteinBrooke) July 19, 2024

The Houthis have previously claimed attacks targeting the southern Israeli resort of Eilat and port cities of Ashdod and Haifa,but Friday’s strike is the first operation claimed by the rebels against Tel Aviv. Houthi installations were targeted in Israel’s retaliation for Iran’s first direct military strike on the Jewish state. The Iranian strikes following an attack on one of its missions in Syria that killed senior Revolutionary Guards commanders.

The Houthis’ military spokesman on Friday said the rebels “will focus on targeting” areas deep inside Israeli territory.

Mr Saree declared the Israeli commercial hub “an unsafe area”, saying it “will be a primary target within the range of our weapons”.

He said the Houthis “have a bank of targets” in Israel, including “sensitive military and security targets”. They “will continue... to strike those targets in response to the enemy’s massacres and daily crimes against our people in the Gaza Strip”, he said.

On Saturday, Mr Saree said the Huthis “will not hesitate to expand its military operations... until the aggression stops”.

דובר צה"ל:

מוקדם יותר הלילה נשמע פיצוץ באזור מרכז תל אביב, נבדק החשד שמדובר במטרה אווירית, הנושא בבדיקה.

התייחסות ראשונה לפיצוץ https://t.co/6u6VwBrHlf

— יענקי כהן | Yanki Coen (@yankicoen) July 19, 2024

The threat came after the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said at least 90 people were killed and 300 wounded in a strikeon Al-Mawasi camp for displaced people. Israel said the strike targeted Hamas military commanders behind the October 7 attack that sparked the Gaza war.

Separately on Friday, projectiles struck a container ship off the coast of Yemen without causing any casualties, an attack likely carried out by the Houthis, maritime security firm Ambrey said.

“A Singapore-flagged container ship was ‘hit’ by projectiles” 80 nautical miles (148km) southeast of the Yemeni port cityof Aden, Ambrey said, adding no injuries were reported in the attack that is consistent with previous Houthi operations.

The UK Maritime Trade Operations, which is run by Britain’s Royal Navy, said a “vessel has been hit by unknown projectiles” southeast of Aden. “All crew reported safe. Authorities are investigating,” UKMTO said.

The rebels have attacked at least 88 commercial vessels since their anti-shipping campaign started in November, according to the Washington Institute for Near East Policy think tank.

Houthi attacks have prompted some shipping companies to detour around southern Africa to avoid the Red Sea, a vital route that normally carries about 12 per cent of global trade, according to the International Chamber of Shipping. Egypt’s Suez Canal on Thursday reported a 23.4 per cent drop in revenues attributed to disruptions in Red Sea shipping over the past year.

AFP

The scene after the explosion in Tel Aviv. Picture: X

An image of the scene in Tel Aviv. Picture: X

The US embassy branch in the Israeli coastal city of Tel Aviv. Picture: AFP