Middle East updates: Houthis claim Tel Aviv drone attack

The World Court has said that Israel's settlement policies and exploitation of natural resources in the Palestinian territories are in breach of international law.

The opinion by the International Court of Justice in the Hague is only advisory and non-binding.

The panel at the court was made up of 15 judges from around the world.

In its opinion, the court concluded that "the transfer by Israel of settlers to the West Bank and Jerusalem as well as Israel's maintenance of their presence is contrary to article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention."

It also said the use of natural resources was "inconsistent" with Israel's obligations under international law as an occupying power.
 

This is a developing story.

Israel's Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has vowed to "settle the score" after a drone attack in Tel Aviv that was claimed by Iran-backed Houthis from Yemen.

Gallant said he had ordered a "strengthening of air defense systems" at a meeting of military chiefs.

"The security system will settle the score with all who try to harm the state of Israel, or sends terrorism against it, in a decisive and surprising manner," he said in comments released on the X social media platform, formerly known as Twitter.

One person was killed and eight others injured in the explosion near a branch of the US Embassy in Tel Aviv.

Over the past months, the Houthis, who control large swathes of Yemen, have been carrying out a number of attacks on targets they see as related to the conflict in the Gaza Strip, saying they are doing so in solidarity with Palestinians living in the enclave.

The Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza has said that at least 38,848 people have been killed in the enclave since Israel launched its offensive against Palestinian militants after their deadly attacks in southern Israel on October 7.

The toll, provided on Thursday, included 54 more deaths in 24 hours, the ministry said.

It said 89,459 people have also been wounded since the war began.

Figures from the ministry are accepted as broadly accurate by bodies such as the UN, but do not make a distinction between civilians and combatants.

The Gaza Strip has become the scene of unlawful killings and looting amid "Israel's dismantling of local capacity to maintain public order and safety" in the Palestinian enclave, the United Nations human rights office (OHCHR) has warned.

"Our office has documented alleged unlawful killings of local police and humanitarian workers, and the strangulation of supplies indispensable to the survival of the civilian population. Anarchy is spreading," said Ajith Sunghay, head of OHCHR for Gaza and the West Bank.

Jeremy Laurence, spokesperson for OHCHR, said the conditions in Gaza amid the ongoing Israeli offensive had "led to the predictable and entirely foreseeable unravelling of the fabric of society in Gaza, setting people against one another in a fight for survival and tearing communities apart."

"There is looting, mob justice, extortion of money, family disputes, random shootings, fighting for space and resources, and we see youths armed with sticks manning barricades," he said.

Israel launched its offensive against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip after the Islamist group and other extremists carried out raids in southern Israel on October 7, killing some 1,200 people, mostly Israel civilians, and taking some 250 hostages, many of whom remain in Gaza.
 

Germany has expressed deep concern at the Israeli parliament's rejection of the notion of a Palestinian state existing alongside Israel.

"This resolution goes against several resolutions of the UN Security Council," a spokesman for Germany's Foreign Ministry said, adding: "Israel is distancing itself here from the overwhelming majority of the international community and isolating itself."

"We all know that isolation is the enemy of any kind of security," he warned.

The spokesman said that the German government was convinced that there was no alternative to a two-state solution that upheld Palestinian rights as well.

"Like Israelis, Palestinians have the right to live in security and dignity by controlling their own destiny in a state of their own," he said.

On Thursday, a majority in the Israeli parliament, or Knesset, voted in favor of a resolution rejecting the foundation of a Palestinian state.

The majority included both members from the right-wing coalition of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which contains several far-right and religiously archconservative figures, and from the opposition party of Benny Gantz.

Britain has announced that it is lifting its suspension of funding for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), which it imposed in January after Israel alleged that some staff had been involved in the Hamas-led terror attacks on October 7 in southern Israel.

"We are overturning the suspension of UNRWA funding," British Foreign Secretary David Lammy told Parliament, saying that Britain would provide 21 million pounds (€24.9 million, $27.1 million).

He added that the agency was "absolutely central" to providing humanitarian aid to Gaza.

An audit report by independent experts has rejected Israel's claims as being without evidence, saying that UNRWA had established "robust" mechanisms to uphold its principle of neutrality.

The Israeli military has said it believes an Iranian-made drone that hit Tel Aviv in the early hours of Friday was launched from Yemen. 

The comments came in a press briefing with chief spokesman Daniel Hagari, who said the military assessed that the drone, which hit a building near the beachfront in Tel Aviv, was an upgraded Iranian-made Samad-3 model.

"Our estimation is that it arrived from Yemen to Tel Aviv," he said.

The explosion killed one man, with the projectile that caused it appearing to have come from the sea.

The Yemen-based Houthi group said earlier on Friday that it had launched a "new drone called 'Yafa', which is capable of bypassing the enemy's interception systems" at Tel Aviv.

The Houthis have targeted shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden with numerous drone and missile attacks since November, citing solidarity with Palestinians during the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

Several international news agencies have quoted an unnamed Israeli military spokesperson as saying that the drone that hit Tel Aviv on Friday was "very big" and that a "human error" led to it not being intercepted. 

The official reportedly said the drone was detected, but "a human error... caused the interception and defense systems not to be operated."

"A very big drone that can travel long distances" was used in the attack, the official told reporters, adding that Yemen's Houthi rebels, who have claimed responsibility, were "one of the possibilities." 

"It was a terror attack that was targeted to kill civilians in Israel," the Israeli official was quoted as saying. 

The AP news agency reported, citing the Israeli military, that Israel's assessment of aerial threats has not changed because its adversaries have attempted such strikes for months.

Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi militants claimed responsibility for the attack that killed one person in Tel Aviv and injured 10 others.

Earlier on Friday, a spokesperson of Yemen's Houthi militants had said on social media that the group would reveal details about a military operation that targeted Tel Aviv.

The blast was heard hours after Isreal's military announced that it had killed a senior commander of the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia in southern Lebanon.

Hezbollah and the Houthis say their attacks against Israel are in solidarity with the Palestinians after Israel launched its assault on the Gaza Strip following a Hamas-led terror attack against Israel in October last year.

The Israeli military said it is investigating the explosion, which it suspects was a drone attack.

"An initial inquiry indicates that the explosion in Tel Aviv was caused by the falling of an aerial target, and no sirens were activated. The incident is under thorough review," the military said in a statement.

The mayor of Tel Aviv, Ron Huldai, called the attack a drone strike, although the military is yet to confirm the nature of the attack.

The police have called on the residents in Tel Aviv "to respect safety instructions and not to approach or touch debris or shrapnel that may contain explosives."

The military said it has ramped up security to protect the Israeli airspace but has not ordered new civil defense measures.

At least one person was killed and 10 others were injured after an explosion in central Tel Aviv in the early hours of Friday, Israeli emergency services said.

Seven other people sustained minor injuries in the explosion but they were mainly in a state of shock, said Zaki Heller of the Magen David Adom rescue services.

Those who were injured have been taken to a hospital, the rescue service said on social media platform X. 

Video footage from the site showed shards of glass scattered across pavements as onlookers gathered around the blast site near a building bearing blast marks that was sealed off by police tape.

mf/fb (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)