Houthis Launch Deadly Drone Strike on Tel Aviv, Evading Israel’s Defenses

In a rare breach of Israel’s multilayered air-defense system, a drone fired by the Houthi militia in Yemen slammed into an apartment building near the United States Embassy branch office in Tel Aviv early Friday, killing at least one person and wounding eight others.

Pentagon officials expressed doubt that the drone had specifically targeted the U.S. building, an attack that analysts assessed had possibly been an attempt by the Houthis to strike anywhere they could in Tel Aviv. The Houthis, an Iranian-backed militia that has been attacking ships in the Red Sea, claimed responsibility for the strike on the city of 450,000 people.

The Israeli military’s chief spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, said the country’s defense systems had apparently picked up the presence of the drone but had failed to register it as a threat. No air-raid sirens warned residents before the drone crashed into the building, causing an explosion that jolted people from their sleep, shattered windows and left shrapnel scattered on the streets.

“We are investigating why we did not identify it, attack it and intercept it,” Admiral Hagari said on Friday.

Another Israeli military official, who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity, said there was a possibility that human error had allowed the drone to penetrate Israeli airspace.

Israeli officials did not announce an immediate military response against the Houthis, who control much of northwestern Yemen. The group has attempted several attacks on southern Israel, but this one managed to reach farther into the country. Israel’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant, said that “anyone who tries to harm the state of Israel or sends terror against it” would meet an Israeli response “in a sharp and surprising way.”

Israel has already been fighting what it calls a multipronged war against several militias backed by Iran, including Hamas, which led the Oct. 7 attack on Israel that led to the war in Gaza; and Hezbollah in Lebanon, which has been trading cross-border strikes with Israel for months in a conflict that has displaced more than 150,000 people on both sides of the Israeli-Lebanese border.

While Israel could strike back at Houthi targets in Yemen, Israeli military leaders have signaled they are more likely to continue fighting in Gaza and then focus more fire on Hezbollah.

The Houthis have also been attacking ships in the Red Sea, in what they have described as a show of support for Palestinians in Gaza. In response, the United States, Britain and other allies have launched attacks on Houthi weapons depots, missile systems and radar facilities in Yemen. On Thursday, the United States imposed sanctions on about a dozen people, businesses and vessels that it said were linked to the Houthis’ financial support network.

The drone strike on Tel Aviv was an unusual penetration of Israel’s aerial defenses, which have allowed most Israelis to carry on a tense wartime routine even as the military’s devastating offensive in Gaza has continued.

Admiral Hagari said that dozens of drones had been launched at Israel from Yemen since October, most of which had been intercepted by American or Israeli forces.

Nasruddin Amer, a Houthi spokesman, said in an interview that the drone had been manufactured in Yemen and had been equipped with technology that made it difficult to detect. He also described the attack as a response to “an escalation in massacres against the Palestinian people in Gaza.”

He said that Iran had not been involved in the decision to carry out the strike, but that the Houthis had updated the Iranians afterward.

Weapons experts said the drone appeared to have been a variant of a Houthi-built, Iranian-designed Samad-3, which the Houthis have claimed they first launched in 2018 against airports in the United Arab Emirates. At a minimum, the experts said, it was painted darker to evade Israeli air defenses and equipped with a larger fuel tank and engine to give it the range to reach Tel Aviv.

Admiral Hagari said the Samad-3 was an Iranian model that had been adapted for long-distance flight but did not have stealth technology that enabled it to skirt Israeli surveillance.

The Israeli military said the drone had most likely flown from Yemen before approaching Tel Aviv from the coast. Video posted on the social media platform X and verified by The New York Times showed what appeared to be a pilotless aerial vehicle approaching west of the city, followed by a blast.

Jeremy Binnie, a weapons analyst and Samad drone expert at Janes, a defense intelligence firm, said the drone might have been tracked by Israeli defenses but mistaken for something else — particularly since it had approached Tel Aviv from the Mediterranean Sea and had not taken the shortest flight path from Yemen or Iran.

Israeli military personnel may have also missed the drone simply because of human error and “contributed to the Houthis achieving a lucky shot,” said Fabian Hinz, an expert at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London.

Residents said the sound of the blast had awakened them in the predawn hours.

Yochai Afek, 35, said he had looked out his bedroom window to see his car in flames. Thinking that an air-conditioner had fallen on his vehicle, he and his wife ran outside with a fire extinguisher and a hose, and were surprised to find a large crowd outside at 3 a.m.

“We didn’t understand why the whole neighborhood came out to the streets because of a fallen AC unit,” Mr. Afek said. “But, slowly, we began to hear buzz about a drone strike.”

Emergency workers in Tel Aviv found the body of a 50-year-old man in his apartment building with shrapnel injuries, according to the Israeli authorities.

Shahar Dubb, 20, said Tel Aviv residents should not have been shocked by the attack.

She and her mother have been living in a hotel room in the city since their hometown, Kiryat Shmona, near Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, was evacuated nine months ago because of repeated drone and rocket attacks by Hezbollah.

“I see people in a hubbub, but I ask myself, What’s the uproar?” Ms. Dubb said. “This happens every day.”

Reporting was contributed by Eric Schmitt, Michael Levenson, Rawan Sheikh Ahmad, Adam Rasgon and Adam Sella.