Yemen’s Houthis claimed responsibility early Friday morning for a drone strike over Tel Aviv that killed at least one person and injured ten others.
The airstrike swept through the streets, causing a rain of shrapnel and scattering shards of glass in a large radius.
Throughout the nine-month war, the Houthis have repeatedly launched drones and rockets towards Israel in solidarity with the Palestinian people and against Israel. But until Friday, all of them had been intercepted either by Israel or by Western allies whose troops are stationed in the region.
Yahya Saree, a Houthi spokesman, said in a statement published on the social media platform X that the strike was in retaliation for the ongoing war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas and hit one of the group’s many targets.
The Houthis claim their latest drones are capable of bypassing Israeli air defences. However, an Israeli military spokesman said Friday that the explosive-laden drone was discovered on Thursday and attributed it to “human error.” The military’s assessment of aerial threats has not changed, as Israel’s adversaries have been attempting such strikes for months, according to the military. The Israeli spokesperson said:
It was a terror attack that was targeted to kill civilians in Israel.
The Houthis have repeatedly launched drones and rockets towards Israel throughout the nine-month Hamas-backed war, but so far all attacks have been intercepted by Israel or Western allies stationed in the region.
Tel Aviv would now “not be safe territory,” Houthis say
The Houthis said Tel Aviv would now “not be safe territory and will be the main target” of their strikes. The movement has identified a number of targets in Israel, “including important military installations,” and plans to continue attacks in response to the Israeli Armed Forces in the Gaza Strip.
The war in Gaza, which began after Hamas attacked southern Israel on October 7, has killed more than 38,600 people, according to the territory’s health ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count.
The war has caused a humanitarian catastrophe in the coastal Palestinian territory, displacing much of its 2.3 million population and causing widespread hunger. A Hamas attack in October killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and about 250 militants were taken hostage. About 120 remain in captivity, and about a third of them are presumed dead, according to Israeli authorities.
