A man has been killed and several other people injured in a drone attack in central Tel Aviv, Israel.
A block of flats was hit by what an Israeli military official said was a large, long-range type.
The Houthi movement in Yemen – over 1,000 miles (1,600km) away – said it had carried out the attack. Israel has not confirmed this.
If the Houthis are responsible, it would mark a significant escalation in their attacks on Israel which began in the wake of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, which was triggered by the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October.
Until now, almost all Houthi missiles and drones fired towards Israel have been intercepted.
The Israeli military official said defence forces had detected the incoming drone but had not tried to shoot it down because of “human error”.
A military spokesman for the Houthis, Yahya Saree, said the strike had been conducted with a new drone capable of bypassing interception systems.
He declared Tel Aviv, Israel’s commercial capital, “an unsafe area,” and said it “will be a primary target within the range of our weapons”.
The Israeli military said it was increasing air patrols, while Tel Aviv’s mayor said the city was on high alert, local media reported.
Alon, a local resident, told Haaretz newspaper that when the blast happened “the whole building shook,” .
“My neighbours’ windows shattered, 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 also came after the Israeli military confirmed it had killed a senior commander of the Hezbollah militia in southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah and Israel have traded fire across the border since Hezbollah launched rockets a day after Israel began its military offensive on Gaza in response to Hamas’s deadly attack on Israel.
Hezbollah and the Houthis, which are both backed by Iran, say they are acting in solidarity with the Palestinians.
