Israeli city of Tel Aviv suffers deadly drone strike claimed by Yemen’s Houthis

A drone strike killed a man in the heart of Tel Aviv on Friday morning, in an attack claimed by the Yemen-based Houthi militants.

The Iran-backed group said it targeted Israel’s commercial capital with a new type of drone difficult for radar to detect and vowed to target the city and other parts of the country again.

Israel’s military said the projectile was probably fired from Yemen and was an Iranian-built Samad 3 drone re-purposed to fly longer distances.

If confirmed, it would mark the first deadly attack on Israel by the Houthis, who have also been assaulting ships much closer to their home base in recent months.

The incident came just before of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s trip to Washington, his first outside of Israel since its war against Hamas began in October. He’s due to meet U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday and address Congress two days later.

The shekel fell slightly to head for a third day of losses, while the stock market was shut for the Israeli weekend and reopens on Sunday.

The explosion happened close to Tel Aviv’s sea front and a U.S. embassy branch, according to Israeli emergency services. The Israeli military said no sirens were activated and declined to comment if the American facility was the intended target.

The man who was killed was around 50 and eight people were injured. The attack happened close to 3 a.m. local time.

Israeli media showed footage of a low flying drone coming into Tel Aviv from the west over the Mediterranean sea.

“An initial inquiry indicates that the explosion in Tel Aviv was caused by the falling of an aerial target,” the Israeli military said.

It later said the drone was detected by its defense systems and it’s investigating why it wasn’t shot down. Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Israel will look at reinforcing its air defenses in response to the attack.

Drone warfare has exposed a vulnerability in Israel’s vaunted air defenses. The Iron Dome system – which uses interceptors against incoming short-range missiles – has effective against large objects fired by Hamas from Gaza and Hezbollah from Lebanon in recent months. But many smaller drones have been able to slip through.

Dozens of drones, primarily those sent by Hezbollah, have evaded the military’s defenses and caused casualties and damage in Israel. The army is testing a laser-based system designed for small projectiles, though it won’t be ready before 2025.

The Houthis started targeting Israel with drones and missiles shortly after the war in Gaza started. But, at least until now, none of their attacks are thought to have caused significant damage in Israel, with most projectiles being intercepted or failing to reach the country, which lies around 1,900 kilometers (1,180 miles) from Yemen.

Israel’s largely avoided direct retaliation against the Islamist group.

The Houthis have caused havoc in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since November, attacking commercial and military ships and forcing most Western-linked vessels to avoid the area. They’ve stepped up those naval assaults in the past six weeks.

The group says it’s acting in solidarity with Palestinians and will continue their attacks until there’s a cease-fire in Gaza.

It is, along with Hamas and Hezbollah, part of Iran’s “axis of resistance” – anti-U.S. and anti-Israel militias in the Middle East that receive training and funding from Tehran.

Since Oct. 7, when Hamas attacked Israel from Gaza, several of those groups have targeted Israel, U.S. bases in region or Western commercial interests.

The likes of the U.S., European Union and India have moved warships to the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden in an attempt to thwart the Houthi shipping attacks. The U.S. and U.K. have also been striking Houthi positions in Yemen regularly since January. They say those have degraded the group’s military capabilities, though it’s still able to hit vessels and Iran continues to resupply it.

Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s far-right finance minister, said the drone strike on Tel Aviv showed the government has to continue the war in Gaza until Hamas is destroyed.

“In a region where only strength and power are understood, we do not have the privilege of ending the war without a complete victory in all arenas and the removal of the threat posed by them,” he said on X.

———-

(With assistance from Patrick Sykes and Paul Abelsky.)