At least 22 wounded after drone fired from Yemen hits Israeli city of Eilat, medics say

At least 22 people were wounded when a drone fired from Yemen struck the southern Israeli city of Eilat on Wednesday, local medics said.

A statement from the Israeli military confirmed that the drone "fell in the area of Eilat" on the Red Sea coast after air defences failed to intercept it.

It wasn't immediately clear if the injured were hurt by the drone or an interceptor.

"The public is requested to continue to follow the Home Front Command’s defensive guidelines and further guidelines issued," the IDF said in a post on Telegram.

The Magen David Adom emergency medical service said two people had been seriously injured while others sustained only minor injuries.

Police in Eilat said bomb disposal experts were examining the nature of the drone and advised the public to stay away from the crash site and to avoid touching any remnants that could contain explosives.

The Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen have regularly fired drones and missiles at Israel since the start of the war in Gaza, in what they say are solidarity attacks with the Palestinians.

The Houthis also began targeting ships in the important Red Sea maritime trade corridor in November 2023 that it believed were linked to Israel.

Shipping through the Red Sea has reportedly halved since the start of the Houthi attacks, with a number of companies, such as Maersk, MSC and Hapag-Lloyd, temporarily stopping the transit of their shipping containers through the conflict zone, requiring vessels to take longer and more costly detours around South Africa. 

The vast majority of the fire directed at Israel has been intercepted or fallen in open areas without wounding anyone.

Israel and the United States have also carried out retaliatory air strikes on Yemen, targeting Houthi infrastructure.

Earlier this month, 31 Yemeni journalists were reportedly killed in Israeli strikes on Sanaa.

And late last month, Israel killed the Houthis’ Prime Minister Ahmed al-Rahawi in an air strike on the capital Sanaa.

The group promised "vengeance" for his death and the deaths of almost half of his cabinet.