Drone strike near U.S. Embassy office in Tel Aviv leaves one dead, Yemen’s Houthi rebels claim attack

TEL AVIV — Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for a drone strike near a U.S. Embassy branch office in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv on Friday the killed at least one person and injured several others.

An explosion rang out in the center of the city in the early hours of Friday morning after an unmanned aerial vehicle, or UAV, struck the area, an Israel Defense Forces official said in a news briefing on Friday.

A 50-year-old man was found dead in an apartment building that appeared to have been impacted by the strike, Zaki Heller, a spokesman for Magen David Adom, Israel’s medical emergency service, said in a statement. The IDF official confirmed the death of a civilian and said at least 10 others were injured in the attack.

Israelis typically receive warnings for incoming aerial attacks, but the IDF official said an alert was not issued in this case due to “human error.”

Video shared on social media appeared to show the aftermath of the strike, with the air shrouded in smoke and shattered glass and other debris on the ground as ambulance crews and police continued to arrive to the scene.

“I was dead asleep,” one eyewitness, Ken Davis, 56, an actor from New York, told Reuters in an on-camera interview. “But this sound of this drone was like a vibration that woke me right up and then the explosion rattled the whole building.”

“Everything was falling from the ceiling and the windows blew out in my room,” he said, adding that he was shocked by how quickly Israeli first responders and military members arrived to the scene. He also said he knew the man who was found dead.

The Iran-backed Houthis claimed responsibility for the attack, which they said was “in support of the oppressed Palestinian people and their fighters” and in response to Israel’s ongoing assault on Gaza, where local health officials say nearly 39,000 people have been killed since Israeli forces launched their offensive following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks.

They said the attack was carried out with a new drone “capable of bypassing the enemy’s interception systems,” alleging it could not be detected by radar. And they said their operations would continue until Israel’s offensive in Gaza ends.

In a briefing Friday morning, IDF spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said a preliminary investigation suggested the UAV was a “Sammad 3,” an Iranian weapon that he said was likely upgraded to extend its flight range. He said it was believed to have reached Tel Aviv from Yemen.

The Houthis have been targeting commercial shipping in the Red Sea, as well as U.S. targets, since Israel launched its offensive in Gaza following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks, in which some 1,200 people were killed and around 250 others taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.

The attack comes as the International Court of Justice is expected to on Friday issue a landmark opinion on the legal consequences of Israel’s “policies and practices” in its occupation of Palestinian territories.

The ICJ, which is based at The Hague in the Netherlands, has been looking into the matter since the start of last year following a request from the United Nations General Assembly.

The international court has previously ordered Israel to do everything in its power to prevent genocidal acts in its offensive in Gaza and more recently demanded that Israeli forces halt operations in Rafah, the city in southern Gaza once considered a safe zone, due to the risk to Palestinian lives. But to date, Israel has continued its offensive in the area.

On Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the Israeli leader had visited Rafah. The exact details of the visit, including how much time he spent in the largely destroyed city, were not immediately clear.

Paul Goldman reported from Tel Aviv and Chantal Da Silva from London