Israel’s military says it is investigating the attack and why the country’s defences failed to intercept the ‘aerial target’.

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Yemen’s Houthi group has claimed responsibility for an apparent drone attack on Israel’s Tel Aviv, which killed one person and injured at least 10, according to reports.

A spokesperson for the Houthi armed forces said in a post on social media on Friday that the Iran-aligned group had “targeted ‘Tel Aviv’ in occupied Palestine”.

It claimed that it used a new drone “capable of bypassing interceptor systems and being unable to be detected by radars”.

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The Israeli military said it had opened an investigation into the large explosion near the United States embassy office in the city and would determine why the country’s air defence systems were not activated to intercept the “aerial target”.

“We’re talking about a large UAV [Unmanned Aerial Vehicle] that can fly large distances,” a military official told a briefing for journalists following the strike. “We’re not ruling out any possibilities right now.”

Israel’s air force has increased patrols to “protect the country’s skies”, the military said in a post on social media.

Israeli police said the body of a man was found in an apartment close to the explosion and that the circumstances were being investigated.

Footage from the site of the blast showed broken glass strewn across pavements as crowds of onlookers gathered near a building bearing blast marks. The site was sealed off by police tape.

Israeli opposition politician 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. There are no policies, no plans, all public relations and discussions about themselves. They [the government] have to go,” the leader of the centrist Yesh Atid party wrote on X.

The Houthis have repeatedly launched drones and missiles towards Israel and at Israeli-linked shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden in a show of support for Palestinians amid Israel’s war on Gaza.

Until the early morning attack on Friday, all attempts to hit Israel by the Houthis were intercepted by either Israeli defences or Western allies with forces stationed in the region, The Associated Press news agency reported.

Hezbollah in southern Lebanon has also stepped up attacks against military targets in northern Israel, saying they are also acting in solidarity with Palestinians amid Israel’s war on Gaza, which has killed almost 39,000 people.

Last updated on November 15th, 2024 at 12:04 am