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A large explosion rocked the streets of central Tel Aviv in the early Friday morning hours, jolting Israelis out of bed, shattering windows and raining down shrapnel in what Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed as an attack using a new explosive drone. Israeli officials said later Friday morning that the blast was caused by a drone fired from Yemen, and that one man in his 50s was killed by shrapnel that tore into his home and at least eight other people were wounded.
The Iran-backed Houthi movement, which has been fighting Yemen’s internationally recognized government in a decade-long civil war, claimed responsibility for the explosion, saying in social media messages that it marked a “new phase” in its operations against Israel in response to the Israelis’ongoing war against the Houthis’ ideological ally Hamas.
The Houthis said the strike used a “new drone called ‘Yafa’, which is capable of bypassing the enemy’s interception systems,” but a U.S. official told CBS News on Friday, echoing the Israeli military’s analysis, that it appeared to have been one of the group’s existing drones, with a modified fuel tank to extend its range.
The explosion caused by the drone was very near the U.S. consulate in Tel Aviv, but it remained unclear whether that was the target. There were no U.S. casualties reported.
Israeli authorities said the explosion hit an apartment building in Tel Aviv at 3:12 a.m. (7:12 p.m. Eastern on Thursday).
In a statement, Israel Defense Forces chief spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said the drone “hit a building in central Tel Aviv where a civilian was killed and eight were slightly injured.” He confirmed that “no alert was triggered” and said the military was investigating how the weapon had slipped through Israel’s advanced air defenses.
Hagari said a preliminary investigation showed the drone “was fired from Yemen and it is an Iranian weapon that has been upgraded to extend the range.”
“Iran supports and arms its affiliates. So far, dozens of drones have been launched from Yemen, most of which were intercepted or shot down by CENTCOM [U.S. military] or Israel’s defense systems,” Hagari said, adding that another drone was shot down outside the Israel’s borders early Friday as it approached from the east, and that the military was “checking the connection between the two events.”
Three U.S. officials told CBS News there are currently no U.S. Navy ships deployed in the Red Sea, which could have helped to intercept the drone. The official said it was not part of a swarm attack, but a solitary drone launched at Israel.
Based on verified social media videos, CBS News confirmed the blast occurred a little more than 200 yards from the U.S. consulate in Tel Aviv. A U.S. official told CBS News that no American casualties had been reported.
The Houthis have launched drones and missiles at Israel and at commercial and military vessels in the Red Sea and surrounding waters throughout the nine-month war, in solidarity with Hamas. But until Friday, all the weapons fired at Israel had been intercepted by either Israel or its Western allies.
Israel has so far not carried out any attacks on the Houthis directly, allowing its allies the U.S. and Britain to take the leadinstead as it focuses its efforts on the war in Gaza and ongoing fighting with Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group, which is also backed by Iran.
In a statement issued later Friday, Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant vowed to “bring to justice anyone who harms the State of Israel,” and said he had held an assessment “to review the steps required to strengthen our defense arrays in light of events overnight, as well as the intelligence and operational activities required against those responsible for the attack.”
CBS News’ Eleanor Watson in Washington D.C. contributed to this report.
