Gaza war latest | Drone strike hits Tel Aviv, killing 1 and injuring at least 10
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:
The U.K. restores funding to the UN agency for the Palestinians
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.
Israeli airstrikes on Gaza refugee camps kill 12 overnight, Palestinian officials say
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Two Israeli strikes on central Gaza killed 12 people overnight Thursday, according to Associated Press 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 AP journalists.
Palestinian militant groups call on the PLO to rescind recognition of Israel
BEIRUT — The militant Palestinian groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad have called on the leadership of the Palestine Liberation Organization to withdraw its recognition of Israel in retaliation for a resolution approved by Israel’s parliament rejecting the establishment of a Palestinian state.
The two groups made the announcement late Thursday following a meeting in the Gulf nation of Qatar between Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and Islamic Jihad chief Ziad Nakhaleh and his deputy Mohammed al-Hindi, according to a Hamas statement.
The two groups said the Palestinian people have the right to set up their own independent state with Jerusalem as its capital.
Hezbollah says it fired rockets on northern Israeli village
Beirut — Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group said it fired a volley of rockets on a northern Israeli village Friday morning in retaliation for Israeli airstrikes the night before on south Lebanon that killed several Hezbollah members and wounded civilians.
In another attack, the group also said that it used for the first time a new rocket with heavy warhead to strike an Israeli army post in the disputed Kfar Chouba hills. Hezbollah said in a statement that the Wabel rocket, produced by the group in Lebanon, destroyed parts of the Rweisat al-Alam post and caused a fire inside it.
Hezbollah said its fighters fired a salvo of rockets on the northern Israeli village of Abirim for the first time since fighting along the Lebanon-Israel border began in early October.
Hezbollah began firing rockets shortly after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, saying it aimed to ease pressure on Gaza. Since then, Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon have killed over 450 people, mostly Hezbollah members but also around 90 civilians and non-combatants. On the Israeli side, 21 soldiers and 13 civilians have been killed.
Yemen’s Houthi rebels claim drone strike that hit Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv — Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for a drone strike early Friday that hit part of central Tel Aviv near the U.S. Embassy, killing one person and injuring 10.
The aerial strike rumbled through the streets causing shards of shrapnel to rain down and spreading shards of glass over a large radius. 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.
Yahya Sare’e, the Houthis’ spokesperson, said in a statement published on the social media platform X that the strike was made in retaliation for the war and had hit one of many of the group’s targets.
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.”
“It was a terror attack that was targeted to kill civilians in Israel,” the official said of the strike, the first to threaten Tel Aviv in months.
By The Associated Press
