This is the moment a Houthi drone flew over a beach and the US embassy in Israel before causing an explosion that killed one person and the country is now vowing to “redress the score”.
Images posted on social media show the air weapon hovering over Tel Aviv’s beach and a row of nearby buildings early this morning before an orange flash erupted further inland within seconds.
The terrifying video comes after an Israeli military official told a briefing that “a very large drone that can travel long distances crashed into an apartment building” at 03.12am local time.
The official, who remained anonymous, said the target was “terrorism” and that “the main goal of the rebel group is to kill civilians in Israel.”
They added that the drone had surprisingly been detected by the military while it was in the air, but that the alarm was not raised immediately due to “human error”.
Footage captured the moment a Houthi drone flew low over a beach and towards a row of buildings in Tel Aviv before causing an apartment building to explode.
An orange glow is seen at the site of the explosion that left one dead and 10 injured
Members of the Israeli security forces are seen in a cordoned-off area where the explosion took place near the US embassy in Tel Aviv on July 19, 2024.
“There was no alert in Tel Aviv because it was not activated,” he said.
“There was human error that caused the interception and defense systems to not work,” the official said.
“Obviously, one of the possibilities we are looking at is Yemen because of the Houthis’ announcements, but we are not ruling anything out.”
Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant issued a chilling warning today: “The defense establishment is working to immediately strengthen all defense systems and will take action against anyone who harms the State of Israel or directs terror against it.”
IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said the UAV was apparently launched from Yemen.
“We are still investigating the incident in depth. Based on evidence found at the scene, it appears to be an Iranian Samad-3 drone,” he said.
Yemen’s Houthi group claimed responsibility today for the attack that caused the explosion.
A Houthi military spokesman said in a social media post on Friday that the Iran-aligned group had “attacked Tel Aviv in occupied Palestine.”
He said he had used a new drone “capable of evading interceptor systems and being detected by radar.”
Its armed wing also released a statement celebrating the attack, saying: “Triumphing over the oppression of the Palestinian people and their mujahideen, and in retaliation for the massacres of the Zionist enemy against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.”
The Israeli military said it had opened an investigation into the large and fatal explosion near the US embassy office and would determine why the country’s air defence systems were not activated to intercept the “aerial target” before any damage was caused.
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi group claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it “targeted Tel Aviv in occupied Palestine.”
A Tel Aviv man stands next to a damaged car near the site of a deadly explosion, amid the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Tel Aviv.
Following the drone attack, Israel’s air force took to social media to say it had increased patrols to “protect the country’s skies.”
Israeli police said the body of a 50-year-old man was found in an apartment near the site of the blast and that the circumstances surrounding his death were also being investigated.
Four people were taken to hospital with minor shrapnel injuries and four others were treated for shock. All of them were later discharged, the hospital said. France24.
Images and videos from the devastating scene in Tel Aviv show mangled vehicles, shattered windows and debris strewn across the streets as authorities worked to detect casualties and assess the damage caused by the blast.
Israeli opposition politician and leader of the centrist Yesh Atid party Yair Lapid said the attack was “further proof that this government does not know how and cannot provide security for the citizens of Israel.”
“Those who lose deterrence in the north and south also lose it in the heart of Tel Aviv,” he wrote in X.
“There are no policies, no plans, it’s all public relations and discussions about themselves. They (the government) have to go,” he continued.
Shards of shattered glass can be seen on the streets of Tel Aviv following the drone strike after the “new” aerial weapon “evaded interception systems.”
Emergency personnel assist a woman at the site of the explosion in Tel Aviv
Recalling the terrifying attack, local resident Alon told Haaretz: “The whole building shook.”
“My neighbours’ windows were broken, so I was sure something had hit the building. It was only when I went outside that I realised that several buildings had been damaged.”
The incident came after the Israeli military confirmed it had killed a senior Hezbollah commander in southern Lebanon on July 3.
A Hezbollah statement at the time identified the slain commander as Mohammad Naameh Nasser, who went by the name Abu Naameh.
A Hezbollah official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said he was the head of the group’s Aziz Unit, one of three regional divisions in southern Lebanon.
Both Hezbollah and the Houthis have stepped up their attacks on Israel, claiming they are acting in solidarity with the Palestinians after Israel invaded the Gaza Strip during an initial attack by Hamas militants on a music festival in southern Israel on October 7 last year.
Hamas militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took more than 200 hostage during the attack.
The war has so far killed more than 38,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.