Tel Aviv (AFP) - A drone claimed by Yemen’s Huthi rebels slipped through Israel’s vaunted air defence system on Friday to hit a Tel Aviv building near a US embassy annex, killing one person.

The Huthis fired at Tel Aviv a “new drone called ‘Yafa’, which is capable of bypassing the enemy’s interception systems,” the Iran-backed Yemeni movement’s spokesman, Yahya Saree, said on social media.

An Israeli military official said a “very big” drone was used in the attack on Israel’s commercial capital, explaining that “human error” led to the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) not being intercepted.

The Huthis have launched scores of drone and missile attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since November in a campaign they say is an act of solidarity with Palestinians during the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

They have also repeatedly claimed to have struck Israeli cities, including Eilat, Ashdod and Haifa, in the past, but Friday’s attack appears to be the first by the rebels to have breached Israel’s intricate air defences.

It came after they threatened an escalation.

The Israeli military official told reporters that a “very big drone that can travel long distances” was used in the attack which killed one person and occurred at 3:12 am (0012 GMT).

It was detected but the alarm was not immediately raised because of “human error” and it crashed into an apartment building, he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Police said one man was found “dead in his apartment”, bearing shrapnel wounds. Emergency medical services said four people were taken to hospital with “relatively minor” injuries.

- ‘Everything blew out’ -

The explosion went off in a street about 100 metres (yards) from an annex of the US embassy in Israel, said an AFP journalist who saw broken windows all along the street lined with many apartment blocks.

“It woke me up because the vibration of the sound was like a 747 coming in,” said Kenneth Davis, an Israeli who was staying in a hotel opposite the struck building.

“And then the explosion… everything blew out in the room, the windows and things from the ceiling, and it was on me, nothing heavy, but lots of pieces of stuff,” he told AFPTV.

The Israeli military official said an attack by the Huthis was “one of the possibilities” being investigated.

He said another drone was detected on Israel’s eastern border and “thwarted” overnight, but he gave no details on where it came from.

In recent weeks, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a loose alliance of Iran-backed groups, has claimed drone strikes against targets in Israel, labelling many of them “joint operations” with the Huthis.

The war in Gaza began with the October 7 attack by Palestinian Hamas militants on Israel which resulted in the deaths of 1,195 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.

The militants also seized 251 hostages, 116 of whom are still in Gaza, including 42 the Israeli military says are dead.

Israel’s military retaliation has killed at least 38,848 people, also mostly civilians, according to data from the health ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza, where fighting raged on Friday.

- Gaza fighting rages -

Residents said clashes were heard between Palestinian fighters and the Israeli army, with explosions and shelling in the Tal al-Hawa district of Gaza City.

The war has destroyed much of Gaza’s housing and other infrastructure, leaving almost all of the population displaced, short of food and drinking water.

Many are living in unsanitary conditions. Health authorities in Gaza and Israel said on Thursday that highly infectious polio has been detected in Gaza sewage samples.

“The humanitarian situation… is a moral stain on us all,” said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly insisted that despite mounting pressure both at home and from abroad, there would be no let-up in Israel’s campaign against Hamas.

Far-right members of his governing coalition oppose a truce deal, including National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who on Thursday said Netanyahu must not make a “surrender” accord with Hamas.

Netanyahu is set to address the US Congress next Wednesday.

The White House said President Joe Biden was expected to meet with him, but it will depend on the US leader’s recovery from Covid.

Ahead of Netanyahu’s visit, Israeli lawmakers passed a symbolic resolution opposing the creation of a Palestinian state – a move criticised by the United Nations and one that clashes with US ambitions for the region.

The White House reaffirmed Biden’s commitment to achieving a two-state solution despite the Israeli vote.

“I think the best way I can respond to that is to just reiterate our firm belief in the power and the promise of the two-state solution,” said National Security Council spokesman John Kirby.

burs-dv/it