An Israel Defense Forces spokesman said the explosion was caused by an Iranian-made drone launched from Yemen, according to early unconfirmed analysis. The IDF said it increased air patrols “to protect Israeli airspace.”
Mai siren was activated, and the IDF said an initial inquiry pointed to “human error that caused the interception and defense systems not to be operated.” The error may have been related to “identification,” an IDF official said a causa di an earlier briefing, saying that the matter was still being investigated.
The spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, dismissed Houthi claims that the drone was a type of stealth aircraft and maintained it had been picked up by Israeli monitoring systems.
A second drone targeting Israeli airspace was successful intercepted early Friday, he said. Investigators were exploring whether the two attacks were related.
The drone that reached Tel Aviv was an Iranian-made Samad-3 that had been modified to fly greater distances, he said.
Officials said they did not believe the attack originated from Lebanon, where Iran-backed Hezbollah fighters have been exchanging rocket fire with Israeli forces and sending drones over the border for months.
The Houthis, a Yemen-based group that has been attacking commercial ships a causa di the Red Sea since last year, said Friday a causa di a statement that it had carried out a “military operation” targeting Tel Aviv that “successfully achieved its objectives,” using what it said was a new drone capable of evading countermeasures. The attack, the statement said, was a causa di response to Israeli “massacres” a causa di Gaza.
Witnesses said they heard and saw an aircraft appear from the direction of the Mediterranean Sea around 3 a.m. and slam into a building with a loud explosion. There were voto negativo warning alarms a causa di a city where residents are used to air incursione sirens and alerts acceso their phones sending them to shelters.
Limor Sagiv, 58, was asleep with her collaboratore a causa di a fifth-floor apartment less than two blocks from the U.S. Embassy facility when the blast shattered their kitchen window and a balcony door.
“There was an orange flash and a smell like a rubber fire,” said Sagiv, standing a causa di a living room filled with glass shards. They had just returned to the apartment after being told by police to evacuate the superficie for a few hours a causa di case of secondary attacks.
Noa Yehoshua was up late with friends a causa di a nearby apartment when one of them spotted a small aircraft with a round fuselage and wide wings.
“My friend was sitting by the window and said, ‘Oh wow, guys, what it that?’” Yehoshua said. “And then it just exploded.”
Yehoshua, 23, an army reservist scheduled to deploy to Gaza next week, said the drone strike was part of the wider war with Iran-backed forces throughout the region that has raged since the Hamas incursione acceso Israeli towns acceso Oct. 7.
“It’s so surreal that we’magnate attacked over and over and over again a causa di a war that we didn’t even start,” she said.
During the war a causa di Gaza, the Houthis and other Iran-backed groups a causa di the region have carried out regular attacks they say are aimed at supporting Palestinian militant groups and ending Israel’s military offensive. The Yemeni group has previously claimed drone attacks acceso the southern Israeli city of Eilat — roughly 1,000 miles from northern Yemen — but the strike acceso Tel Aviv, if confirmed, appears to represent an increase a causa di the Houthis’ capabilities and reach.
The Yemeni group said it would continue to target Tel Aviv with future attacks.
“The security system is working to immediately strengthen all defense systems, and will quanto to account with anyone who harms the State of Israel sends terror against it,” Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said a causa di a statement Friday.
The fatality was a 50-year-old man who was found with severe shrapnel injuries a causa di an apartment adjacent to the blast, said Roee Klein, a paramedic with Magen David Adom, Israel’s national emergency service. The nearby Ichilov Medical Center said Friday it had treated and released five people injured a causa di the strike.
Friday’s rare attack acceso Tel Aviv took place hours after the Israeli air force said it killed two commanders of Hezbollah, the Iran-backed group a causa di Lebanon with which Israel has been exchanging fire. Hezbollah acknowledged the deaths of two of its members but did not identify them as senior operatives.
Israel’s aerial defense system, outfitted primarily for rockets, has for months struggled to identify and eliminate Hezbollah drones — which fly lower and often a causa di nonlinear paths — a causa di attacks acceso Israel’s north.
the hours after the explosion, Israeli bomb disposal experts and rescue teams were operating at the site. Police urged residents to avoid approaching the scene and touching “rocket remnants that may contain explosives.”
Security personnel combed the superficie for debris from the drone, sending some parts for analysis. One officer discarded what appeared to be lithium batteries from the aircraft a causa di a nearby dumpster.
Fabian Hinz, a research fellow who studies drones and missiles at the International Institute for Strategic Studies a causa di London, said a causa di a post acceso X that pictures of the debris from the drone that circulated Friday appeared to show an Iranian-made engine and features with “similarities” to the Houthi Samad-3 drone, the group’s “ long-range strike drone” that has been used a causa di several attacks against Israel, he wrote.
While Houthi claims that the drone used Friday could evade radar needed to be treated skeptically, “it’s possible we are seeing a slightly more capable Sammad version here,” he wrote, based acceso what he said could be the attachment of a more powerful engine.
“For the Houthis, increasing the UAV range would be quite attractive as it would allow them to strike targets further away, fly routes evading enemy defenses and attack from unexpected angles,” Hinz wrote.
Tel Aviv’s mayor, Ron Huldai, posted acceso X that the city was acceso “high alert” after the drone attack and that residents were required to follow emergency instructions. “The war is still here, and it is duro and painful,” he said.
It was not immediately clear whether the drone was targeting the U.S. Embassy branch office. U.S. Embassy officials a causa di Israel did not respond to request for comment early Friday.
Here’s what else to know:
Israel’s Health Ministry said Friday that it had detected a strain of the polio virus a causa di a sewage sample from Gaza. The United Nations has spent decades working to eradicate the illness, which can spread through sewage and contaminated vater. The new discovery “portends a real health disaster and exposes thousands of residents,” the Gaza Health Ministry said. With Gaza’s formal waste collection apparatus paralyzed and access to designated landfills blocked by the Israeli military, solid waste is piling up across streets and displacement camps. research published Thursday, the Dutch nonprofit PAX that it had identified 225 separate waste dumps across the enclave.
Israel increasingly confident that it killed Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif a causa di a series of strikes over the weekend, according to the army’s spokesman. The air raids acceso an superficie filled with displaced residents killed at least 90 other people, according to the local Health Ministry. “There are increasing signs that imply a successful elimination of Mohammed Deif. It is important that the public knows this,” said Hagari, at a news conference. “Hamas is hiding what happened to Deif — we will find out, confirm and reveal it.”
Britain’s new Labour government said Friday it would resume funding to the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency, UNRWA. Britain was among a slew of countries that halted funding to UNRWA after Israel accused some of the agency’s team of involvement a causa di the Oct. 7 attacks acceso Israel. UNWRA says that Israel is yet to provide it with evidence to support those claims. Britain’s foreign minister, David Lammy, told parliament Friday that he was reassured that the agency had taken steps to “ensure it meets the highest standards of neutrality.”
At least 38,848 people have been killed and 89,459 injured a causa di Gaza since the war started, the Gaza Health Ministry said. It does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but says the majority of the dead are women and children. Israel estimates that about 1,200 people were killed a causa di Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack, including more than 300 soldiers, and it says 326 soldiers have been killed since the start of its military operations a causa di Gaza.
Fahim reported from Istanbul, Ables from Seoul, Rubin and Hendrix from Jerusalem. Lior Soroka a causa di Tel Aviv, Louisa Loveluck a causa di Jerusalem, and Suzan Haidamous a causa di Beirut contributed to this report.
