At least 20 injured in Yemen’s drone strike on Israel

At least 20 people were injured on Wednesday after a drone launched from Yemen hit a hotel in 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. It later said that the attack targeted a hotel in the city.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the mayor of Eilat that he discussed with the Israeli military command ways to improve response to aerial threats on the city. The newspaper Israel Hayom, citing an initial investigation, said that air defence systems failed to intercept the drone.

מאחל החלמה מלאה לפצועים מפגיעת הכטב"מ באילת.

הטרוריסטים החות'ים מסרבים ללמוד מאיראן, לבנון ועזה - וילמדו בדרך הקשה.

מי שפוגע בישראל ייפגע שבעתיים.

— ישראל כ”ץ Israel Katz (@Israel_katz) September 24, 2025

Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi group claimed responsibility for the drone attack, saying its attack was the second against Israel in the past 24 hours. Shortly after the attack, Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a post on X that Houthis "refuse to learn from Iran, Lebanon and Gaza and they will learn the hard way".

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.

Read: US allies’ support for Palestinian statehood puts Trump’s Israel policy to test

The Houthis have been launching missiles and drones thousands of kilometres north toward 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.