Drone Attack Hits Tel Aviv, One Dead

Ambulances, firetrucks and police vehicles were seen on the streets in the aftermath of a blast that hit central Tel Aviv early.

The Israeli military said it was investigating it as an apparent drone attack but which did not trigger the air raid sirens.

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

The explosion occurred hours after the Israeli military confirmed it had killed a senior commander of the Hezbollah militia in southern Lebanon.

Yemen's Houthis' military spokesperson, Yahya Sarea, said the group attacked Tel Aviv with a drone and will continue to target Israel in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza war.

An apparent drone attack that was claimed by the Houthi militia hit central Tel Aviv, killing one man and slightly wounding four others, the Israeli military and emergency services said.

In a televised speech, Sarea called Tel Aviv a primary target "within the range of our weapons."

"The Yemeni Houthi armed forces declare the occupied Jaffa area as an unsafe area and a primary target for our weapons. We will focus on targeting the Zionist enemy's internal front and reaching its strategic depth," Sarea said.

Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai called the attack a drone strike, though the military has not yet specified the nature of the attack. Yemen’s Houthis have repeatedly launched drones and missiles toward Israel throughout the nine-month-long war in sympathy with Hamas. But until today, all were intercepted by either Israel or Western allies with forces stationed in the region.

Israel possesses a multilayered aerial defense system, capable of intercepting threats ranging from long-range ballistic missiles to drones and short-range missiles. These various systems have intercepted thousands of projectiles throughout the war. But officials warn they are not 100% effective, and the systems appear to have struggled against small and hard-to-detect attack drones.