Tel Aviv, Israel - Yemen's Houthis said they fired a drone that caused an explosion in Tel Aviv early Friday that left one person dead and injured four, more than nine months into Israel's war on Gaza.

The Israeli military said an initial investigation showed the blast was caused by "the falling of an aerial target" that did not set off alarms. It said air patrols had been stepped up.

The Houthis, who have carried out dozens of attacks against Red Sea shipping to show support for besieged Palestinians, said their "UAV force" attacked "one of the important targets in the occupied Jaffa region, what is now called Israeli Tel Aviv."

The Yemeni forces last Saturday had said they would "not hesitate to expand its military operations... until the aggression stops."

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If an attack is confirmed, it would be the first to cause casualties in Tel Aviv since a rocket strike launched from Gaza wounded one person on May 26. Hundreds of rockets were fired at Tel Aviv in the October 7 attacks, but most were intercepted.

Israeli police said they received hundreds of reports around 3:00 AM of "a strong explosion." The blast hit a building in a street near an annex of the US embassy in Israel, according to an AFP journalist, who saw broken windows.

During the search, a man in his fifties was "found dead in his apartment" bearing injuries caused by shrapnel, police said.

The Magen David Adom emergency medical service said in a statement that it treated a man and a woman injured in their home, and two others hurt in the street. All four were taken to hospital with "relatively minor" injuries, it said.

"It may have been an aerial explosion... We were very lucky," said Peretz Amar, the Tel Aviv police commander, adding that "the investigation is ongoing."

A Tel Aviv resident told AFP that he was awakened by the explosion and "everything shook."

Police called on residents to "respect safety instructions and not to approach or touch debris or shrapnel that may contain explosives."

The fire brigade said it was possible that a drone had caused the explosion.

Israel has killed at least 38,848 people in Gaza in aerial bombardments and ground invasions, according to figures from the occupied territory's health ministry. Millions more face the growing threats of disease and starvation due to a brutal Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip.