Yemen drone attack wounds 20 in Israel’s Red Sea resort city of Eilat

At least 20 people were injured on Wednesday after a drone launched from Yemen hit Israel’s Red Sea resort city of Eilat on the border with Jordan and Egypt, the Israeli national ambulance service Magen David Adom said.

It said two people were seriously injured while others sustained medium to light injuries.

The Israeli military said a drone launched from Yemen fell in Eilat, adding only that interception attempts were made.

The newspaper Israel Hayom said citing an initial investigation that air defence systems failed to intercept the drone. The drone attack on Wednesday comes days after Houthis fired a drone that crashed in Eilat’s hotel zone, resulting in material damage but no casualties.

The Houthis have been launching missiles and drones thousands of kilometres north towards Israel, in what the group says are acts of solidarity with the Palestinians. Most of the dozens of missiles and drones launched have been intercepted or fallen short of Israeli territory.

Israel has retaliated by bombing Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, including the vital Hodeidah port. The Houthis, who control the most populous parts of Yemen, have also been attacking vessels in the Red Sea since the start of the war in Gaza in October 2023.

On the other hand, a ship travelling off the coast of Yemen in the Gulf of Aden came under attack early on Tuesday, officials said, though no one was hurt. It was not clear who launched the attack.

The captain of the vessel heard a splash and explosion in the vicinity of the vessel, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said in a statement.

“Vessel and crew reported safe and proceeding to next port of call,” the center said in a statement.

The attack happened about 225 kilometers (140 miles) off the coast of Aden, which is held by forces loyal to Yemen’s exiled government.

Houthi rebels have launched a series of attacks targeting shipping through the Red Sea corridor, but did not immediately claim the attack. It typically takes them hours or even days to claim an assault.

The Houthi rebels have been launching missile and drone attacks on Israel and on ships in the Red Sea in response to the war in Gaza, saying they were acting in solidarity with Palestinians. Their attacks over the past two years have upended shipping in the Red Sea, through which about $1 trillion of goods passed each year before the war.

Agencies