Ricardo Moraes/Reuters
Emergency workers walk outside the U.S. Embassy branch near the site of an explosion in Tel Aviv, Israel, on July 19, 2024.
CNN
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Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for the deadly drone blast on Friday. Tel Aviv, Iranian proxy groups said the attack was in retaliation for Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli emergency authorities and police said the explosion, which took place in a central area home to many diplomatic missions, including a branch of the U.S. embassy, killed one man, aged 50, and injured at least 10 others.
Houthi spokesman Yahya Saree said an “important military operation” had been successfully carried out using new drones that could “bypass enemy interception systems.”
“We will continue our strikes on these targets in retaliation for the enemy’s massacres and daily crimes against our brothers in the Gaza Strip,” Saree said. “Our operations will only be halted when the aggression stops and the blockade against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip is lifted.”
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman Daniel Hagari said in a televised briefing on Friday that the military believes the drone is an Iranian-made Samad-3 type fired from Yemen and modified to increase its range.
He said another drone was intercepted outside Israeli territory to the east at the same time as the attack, adding that Israel was now strengthening its air defences and stepping up aerial patrols of its borders.
An Israeli military official said the drone was detected by Israeli air defense systems but was not intercepted due to “human error.” The official added that the drone was equipped with a warhead and crashed into an apartment building, but did not provide details about the drone’s payload.
Military officials said they did not believe any further threats were imminent.
The Israel Defense Forces had previously said that according to an initial investigation, “no sirens were sounded” during the incident.
Ricardo Moraes/Reuters
Investigators inspect a damaged window in a building at the site of the explosion in Tel Aviv, July 19, 2024.
The explosion occurred about 100 meters (330 feet) from the US embassy compound, according to CNN’s analysis of open-source satellite imagery of the scene.
The State Department said there was no damage to the US diplomatic mission and no reports of injuries to US personnel or “personnel operating in the area”.
“We are in close contact with Israeli authorities to thoroughly investigate the cause of the explosion and its target,” the spokesman said, adding that the embassy in Jerusalem and its branch in Tel Aviv stood ready to provide consular assistance to US nationals.
According to Israel’s Magen David Adom (MDA) emergency service, emergency crews responded to an “object” that exploded on Shalom Aleichem Street.
“The male who died had a penetrating wound,” said MDA paramedic Roy Klein.
At least four of the injured suffered shrapnel wounds, the MDA said.
Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and opposition leader Yair Lapid criticized the Israeli government for being unable to defend the country.
Lapid said on social media that the attack showed the government’s “inability to provide security to the Israeli people.”
“There’s no policy, there’s no plan, and all the public relations and discussion is about themselves,” he said.
National Security Minister Ben Gvir said the attacks on Tel Aviv and other parts of Israel were “precisely why I insist on having a seat at the table that determines Israeli policy.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dissolved the country’s war cabinet in June after former member Benny Gantz announced his withdrawal from the cabinet and Ben Gvir requested to join.
Ricardo Moraes/Reuters
A person walks down the stairs of a building damaged by an explosion in Tel Aviv on July 19, 2024.
The Houthis have been attacking U.S. sites and merchant ships in the Red Sea since Israel launched an invasion of Gaza following an Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel that left more than 1,200 people dead and over 250 kidnapped.
Israeli Air and ground attacks According to Palestinian officials, attacks on the Gaza Strip have killed more than 38,000 residents. The war has forced the near-complete displacement of more than two million Gaza residents, reduced large swaths of the strip to rubble and sparked a massive humanitarian crisis.
The war also raises concerns about an escalation of the regional conflict, which could result in further human casualties and damage to the global economy. Houthi attacks in the Red Sea, for example, have forced some of the world’s largest shipping and oil companies to suspend shipping through the port, one of the largest in the region. The most important maritime trade route.
Friday’s drone attack in Tel Aviv came after the Houthis claimed earlier this month to have targeted ships in the Israeli port of Haifa with multiple drones in a joint military operation with Iraq-based Iran-backed militias.
The Israel Defense Forces told CNN at the time that they were not aware of any such incidents.
This story has been updated with additional developments.
