A large explosion rumbled through the streets of central Tel Aviv early Friday morning after an apparent drone strike caused shards of shrapnel to rain down, injuring at least 10 people and leaving one dead, authorities said.
Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for the attack. The Houthis have launched drones and missiles toward Israel throughout the Israel-Hamas war, in solidarity with the Palestinian people and against Israel. But until Friday, all were intercepted by either Israel or Western allies with forces stationed in the region.
The Houthis claimed their newest drones can bypass Israel’s aerial defense systems. However, an Israeli military official on Friday that the explosive-laden drone had been identified on Thursday and attributed the hit to “human error.”
The strike came a day after Israel’s far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, visited Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site on Thursday, a move that threatened negotiations to end the 9-month-old war in Gaza.
Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack sparked the war when militants stormed into southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and abducting about 250. Since then, Israeli ground offensives and bombardments have killed more than 38,600 people in Gaza, according to the territory’s Health Ministry. It does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count.
Two international courts have accused Israel of war crimes and genocide — charges Israel denies. Most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people are crammed into squalid tent camps in central and southern Gaza. Israeli restrictions, fighting and the breakdown of law and order have limited humanitarian aid efforts, causing widespread hunger and sparking fears of famine.
Here’s the latest:
LONDON — The new British government has overturned its predecessor’s suspension of funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for the Palestinians.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy told lawmakers that humanitarian aid in Gaza is “a moral necessity” and that UNRWA is “absolutely central” to U.K. efforts to support civilians on the ground.
In January, the previous government paused funding for UNRWA due to allegations that staff from the aid organization had been involved in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel.
Lammy, who travelled to Israel last weekend and urged a ceasefire, said UNRWA is already feeding more than half of Gaza’s population and that the organization will be vital for the future reconstruction of the territory.
Lammy said he was “appalled” by the allegations against UNRWA staff but having spoken to senior officials at the U.N. is “reassured” that the organization is meeting “the highest standards of neutrality and strengthening its procedures.”
The U.K., he added, will provide 21 million pounds ($27 million) in new funds.
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Two Israeli strikes on central Gaza killed 12 people overnight Thursday, according to media journalists and Palestinian medical officials.
Seven of the dead, including two women and three children, were killed in an airstrike on the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza late Thursday evening, while the second airstrike hit Bureij refugee camp, also in central Gaza, killing five people early Friday morning, ambulance crews said.
The bodies were taken to al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital, in the nearby city of Deir al-Balah, where they were counted by news agencies journalists.
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