A drone strike near a U.S. Embassy branch office in Tel Aviv early Friday morning has left one person dead and several others injured, with Yemen’s Houthi rebels claiming responsibility for the attack.
An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) caused the explosion in the city center, an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) official confirmed. Due to human error, no alert was issued for the incoming aerial attack, a typical procedure for such events.
Zaki Heller, a spokesman for Magen David Adom, Israel’s emergency medical service, confirmed that a 50-year-old man was found dead in an apartment building impacted by the strike. The IDF reported that at least 10 others sustained injuries.
Video on social media showed the chaotic aftermath, with smoke, shattered glass, and debris as emergency responders and police arrived. Ken Davis, a 56-year-old actor from New York, described being woken by the drone’s noise and the subsequent explosion.
“The sound of the drone was like a vibration that woke me up, and then the explosion rattled the whole building,” he told Reuters. “Everything was falling from the ceiling, and the windows blew out in my room.”
The Houthi rebels claimed the attack was carried out “in support of the oppressed Palestinian people and their fighters” and in retaliation for Israel’s ongoing assault on Gaza. Nearly 39,000 people have been killed in Gaza since Israeli forces launched their offensive in response to Hamas’ attacks on October 7, according to local health officials.
