Sixteen people were lightly wounded by glass shards early on Saturday morning after a rocket fired from Yemen slammed into the Tel Aviv-Jaffa area, Israel's emergency medical service, Magen-David Adom, reported.
Prior to the impact, sirens sounded across central Israel at 3:50 a.m.
MDA also treated 14 others who sustained minor injuries as they made their way to protected areas. The ambulance service additionally treated another seven who suffered from anxiety.
MDA said that ambulances, mobile intensive care units, and medicycle EMTs were dispatched to the scene and that the wounded, all of whom were in stable condition, were evacuated to Wolfson Medical Center in Holon and Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv.
"The scene was complex as the blast impact affected apartments in the nearby buildings," MDA paramedics Noam Weisbuch and senior EMT Noa Shimony stated.
"Initially, several mildly injured patients from glass shards and people suffering from anxiety arrived. We conducted searches in the apartments, treated and evacuated 16 lightly injured individuals from the scene, including a 3-year-old girl, and also treated those affected by anxiety."
Houthis claim responsibility
Later on Saturday morning, Houthi spokesperson Yahya Qasim Sare'e said the Iranian-backed Yemeni terror organization had conducted the attack.
The Houthis claimed to have targeted an IDF military target with a hypersonic ballistic missile.
Sare'e stated the operation was part of the "promised conquest and the holy jihad." The spokesperson added that it was also part of the group's retaliation for Israeli military activity against Yemen.
"The missile force of the Yemeni Armed Forces targeted a military target of the Israeli enemy in the occupied area of Jaffa with a hypersonic ballistic missile, Type Palestine 2," Sare'e claimed in an English-language statement. "The missile striked [sic] its target accurately and the defense and interception system failed to intercept it."
Security forces, police investigating
Authorities identified the area where the rocket had impacted. All information is still under investigation.
The Home Front Command was also at the scene of the crash in Tel Aviv, the military said.
The scene of a rocket strike on the Tel Aviv area. December 21, 2024. (Credit: MDA Operational Unit)
Teams from the Home Front Command began scanning the area in coordination with local authorities, security forces, and emergency medical service organizations to investigated.
The Israel Police said in a statement that it received multiple reports "regarding the fall of weapon fragments in one of the communities in the Tel Aviv District.
"At this stage, no injuries have been reported, but property damage has occurred."
Bomb squad units are currently working to isolate the impact sites
This is a developing story.