One person was killed and seven others injured in an explosion after a drone attack claimed by the Iran-backed Houthi group on Tel Aviv early on Friday, yards from the US Embassy branch office, raising the prospect of all-out regional war.
The Israel Defence Forces said in a statement that an initial probe indicated the explosion was caused by a falling “aerial target”, a term used typically to refer to drones. The IDF said it increased air patrols “to protect Israeli airspace”. No siren was activated, and the IDF said the incident was under review.
The military spokesman of the Houthis, a Yemen-based group that has been lobbing drones at the southern Israeli city of Eilat for months, said on social media early on Friday that the group will reveal details about the “quality operation” that targeted Tel Aviv.
The fatality was a 50-year-old man who was found with severe shrapnel injuries in an apartment adjacent to the blast, said Roee Klein, a paramedic with Magen David Adom, Israel’s national emergency service.