One person has been killed in a ‘Houthi rebel’ drone strike on Tel Aviv after the Israeli military detected the aerial weapon but didn’t shoot it down ‘due to human error’.
Yemen’s Houthi group claimed responsibility for the attack that caused an explosion at a building near the US embassy, which along with one dead, left at least a further 10 injured, according to reports.
An Israeli military official told a briefing that ‘a very big drone that can travel long distances crashed into an apartment building’ at 03.12am local time.
The official, who remained anonymous, said the aim was ‘terrorism’, with the rebel group’s ‘main goal to kill civilians in Israel‘.
They added the drone was detected but the alarm was not immediately raised because of ‘human error’.
Members of the Israeli security forces are seen at a cordoned-off area where an explosion took place near the US embassy in Tel Aviv on July 19, 2024
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi group claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it had ‘targeted Tel Aviv in occupied Palestine’
A Tel Aviv man stands next to a damaged car near the site of the deadly blast, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict in Tel Aviv
‘There was no alert that sounded in Tel Aviv because it wasn’t activated.
‘There was a human error that caused the interception and defence systems not to be operated,’ the official said.
‘Obviously, one of the possibilities we’re looking into is Yemen because of the Huthi announcements. But we’re not ruling out anything.’
The Israeli military said it had now opened an investigation into the large, and fatal, explosion near the US embassy office and would work out why the country’s air defence systems were not activated to intercept the ‘aerial target’ before any damage was caused.
Following the drone strike, Israel’s air force took to social media claiming it had increased patrols to ‘protect the country’s skies’.
The official said another drone was detected on Israel’s eastern border.
‘Last night, there was another incident where we thwarted a UAV on our eastern border, another UAV.’
He gave no details on where it came from.
Israeli police said the body of a 50-year-old man was found in an apartment close to the explosion site, and that the circumstances surrounding his death were also being investigated.
Four people were taken to hospital with slight shrapnel injuries and four others were treated for shock. All of them were later released, the hospital said, according to France24.
A spokesperson for the Houthi armed forces said in a post on social media Friday that the Iran-aligned group had ‘targeted Tel Aviv in occupied Palestine’.
It claimed that it had used a new drone ‘capable of bypassing interceptor systems and being able to be detected by radars’.
Shards of glass can be seen smashed across the streets of Tel Aviv following the drone strike after the ‘new’ aerial weapon ‘bypassed interceptor systems’
Emergency personnel assist a woman at the site of the explosion in Tel Aviv
Footage and images from the devastating scene in Tel Aviv show mangled vehicles, smashed windows, and rubble strewn across the streets as authorities worked to detect casualties and assess the damage caused by the blast.
Israeli opposition politician, and leader of the centrist Yesh Atid party, Yair Lapid, said the attack was ‘further proof that this government does not know and cannot give security to the citizens of Israel’.
‘Those who lose deterrence in the north and south also lose it in the heart of Tel Aviv,’ he wrote on X.
‘There are no policies, no plans, all public relations and discussions about themselves. They [the government] have to go,’ he continued.
Recalling the terrifying attack, local resident Alon told Haaretz: ‘The whole building shook’.
‘My neighbours’ windows shattered, so I was sure something had hit the building. It was only when I went outside that I realised that several buildings had been damaged.’
The incident came after the Israeli military confirmed it had killed a senior commander of the Hezbollah militia in southern Lebanon on July 3.
A Hezbollah statement at the time identified the killed commander as Mohammad Naameh Nasser, who went by the name Abu Naameh.
A Hezbollah official speaking anonymously said he was head of the group’s Aziz Unit, one of three regional divisions in southern Lebanon.
Both Hezbollah and the Houthis have stepped up their attacks against Israel, saying they are acting in solidarity with the Palestinians after Israel invaded the Gaza Strip during an initial attack by Hamas militants on a southern Israel music festival on October 7 last year.
