A drone from Yemen slammed into the southern Israeli resort city of Eilat, injuring at least 20 people, including two with serious wounds. Israel’s emergency medical service, Magen David Adom, rushed to help after the blast on Wednesday evening local time.
The two most critically hurt victims, both in their 60s, suffered severe injuries to their limbs. Another man took moderate damage from shrapnel hitting his upper body, while the rest had lighter cuts and bruises, mainly from flying debris.
The drone exploded right in Eilat’s bustling city center, near the popular Club Hotel in a tourist hotspot, according to Israel’s state broadcaster Kan. The country’s air defense system tried twice to shoot it down but couldn’t stop it.
This Houthi drone attack on Eilat hit during Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, when the beach city packs in crowds of Israeli vacationers looking to unwind.
The Houthis, who run much of northern Yemen, have kept up drone and missile strikes on Eilat ever since Israel’s war in Gaza kicked off. Just last week, another drone smashed into a hotel entrance there, wrecking property but sparing anyone from harm.
Yemen’s Houthi group owned up to the latest drone attack from Eilat in a statement Wednesday night. Their military spokesman, Yahya Sarea, posted on X that they launched two drones before sunset, zeroing in on a spot in the city.
Sarea called it the second such operation in under 24 hours. On Tuesday, the group had fired several drones at Eilat and the southern city of Beer Sheva.
Israel hasn’t sat idle. It hit back with airstrikes on Houthi areas in Yemen, including a recent one last week on military sites at the Hodeida port. Last month, an Israeli raid on Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, took out the Houthi prime minister and other top leaders. Officials in Israel said that strike marked the launch of a bigger push against the group’s command.
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