Multiple people have suffered shrapnel injuries following a blast in Israel.
An explosion has injured at least seven people near the US consulate in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv. A man in his 30s and a woman in her 20s suffered shrapnel wounds, while others sustained lighter injuries, according to the Times of Israel.
The blast on Friday morning was preceded by a loud whirring noise, according to eyewitnesses and footage circulating online. Police are studying the shrapnel and debris to determine whether the explosion was caused by a drone, local media reported.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is also investigating the incident, which it suspects was caused by “an aerial target,” a military term it uses for drones, the Times of Israel wrote. No air sirens were heard ahead of the blast, the newspaper reported.
Meanwhile, Yemen’s Houthi rebels have claimed responsibility for the incident. “The specific operation, the details of which will be announced, targeted Tel Aviv in occupied Palestine,” Houthi spokesman General Yahya Saree wrote on X.
The blast took place less than a few hundred meters from the former US embassy building in Tel Aviv on Shalom Aleichem street, local media reported.
The explosion happened in the air and the sound reportedly carried to nearby towns. “The blast apparently occurred at some altitude,” Haaretz quoted the police as saying. “We still do not know what it was. Right now, we are clearing the area. There was a lucky escape here.”
Police added that eyewitnesses saw a “red lump” in the sky, which could explain why the explosion didn’t occur in a building or on the ground.
Several photos circulating on X (formerly Twitter) showed alleged fragments of a drone at the scene. One showed a piece of hull made of a substance that looked like fiberglass, with metal parts attached. Another showed a wing lying on the sidewalk, longer than the height of a person, next to a group of people.