DUBAI - Yemen’s Huthi claimed a drone attack Friday on Tel Aviv that left one person dead, saying it marked a “new phase” in its operations against Israel. The Huthis fired at Tel Aviv a “new drone called ‘Yafa’, which is capable of bypassing the enemy’s interception systems,” the movement’s spokesman, Yahya Saree, said on social media.
It struck “one of the important targets in the occupied Jaffa region, what is now called Israeli Tel Aviv,” he said, adding “the operation has achieved its goals successfully”.
Israeli authorities said an explosion hit an apartment building in Tel Aviv at 3:12 am (0012 GMT), killing one person and wounding four others. The Israeli army said the blast was “caused by the falling of an aerial target”, based on an initial inquiry. An Israeli military official who spoke on condition of anonymity said a “very big” drone had been detected but the alarm was not immediately raised because of “human error”.
The Huthis pledged to turn Tel Aviv into a “primary target” after months of drone and missile attacks targeting shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden in response to the Gaza war.
Hezam Al Asad, a member of the Yemeni rebel movement’s politburo, called the strike “unprecedented”.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned Friday a drone strike on Tel Aviv claimed by Yemen’s Houthis that left one person dead, expressing concern over a possible further escalation, a spokesman says. “The Secretary-General remains deeply concerned about the risk such dangerous acts pose for further escalation in the region,” says Farhan Haq, adding a call for “maximum restraint.” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has yet to publicly comment on the strike.