A drone has reportedly made a direct impact on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s place of residence in Caesarea, southern Haifa, Israeli media reported, noting that he and his wife “were not present at the location.”
Details available revealed that the drone was able to directly hit its target, causing casualties post-detonation. Israeli forces admitted that air defenses were unable to intercept the drone as it pierced through occupied territories.
Israeli media reported a major failure in an interception operation, as an infiltrating drone flew right beside the military helicopter searching for it on the outskirts of occupied Haifa.
Three drones made their way from Lebanon to Haifa, with only two being detected and intercepted, according to the Israeli military. The third one, however, struck a building in Caesarea accurately, which was later confirmed to be Netanyahu’s residence. Eyewitnesses confirmed that the explosion was huge.
The drone flew about 70 kilometers from Lebanon and directly hit a building in Caesarea, with shrapnel reaching a neighboring building, according to Yedioth Ahronoth.
Sirens sounded in military bases in the Glilot settlement in northern Tel Aviv after the drone entered occupied airspace. However, for the first time ever, sirens went off in Tel Aviv without being activated on the internal front’s mobile application. Thus, settlers were not notified of any evacuation orders.
The Israeli forces also noted that the drone kept hovering overhead for an hour before striking the building, describing the event as “a tough morning.”
Later, Israeli media reported that the army opened an investigation into the failure of the air defense system to intercept the drone that targeted Netanyahu’s residence, as well as the failure to activate the sirens.
Meanwhile, Maariv lamented this being the third incident in about a week in which a drone coming from Lebanon was able to reach deep inside “Israel”.
Commenting on the targeting of Netanyahu’s residence, Kan reported that Hezbollah is developing its method of launching several drones together to make it difficult for air defense systems to intercept them.
Hezbollah has taken its operations to a higher level, Kan added, calling what happened “a very dramatic incident.”
Israeli police consequently rushed to block roads in the area and have been preventing media news outlets from approaching the site of impact.
In central occupied Palestine, GPS systems were also disrupted.
Over a million settlers scurried to shelters over the past hour, as sirens blared in northern settlements, all the way to Hod HaSharon.
So far, Netanyahu’s office is refusing to disclose the location of the prime minister at the time of the explosion of the drone in Caesarea, according to Yedioth Ahronoth.
The Israeli newspaper said it is still unclear whether Netanyahu was in his private residence in Caesarea this morning during the drone explosion, and his office is refraining from commenting on his whereabouts.
This comes as the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon – vowed to escalate its operations in response to the brutal Israeli assault on Lebanon and what people around the world called “genocide” in the Gaza Strip.
Israel and Hezbollah have been fighting since the militant group began firing missiles at its arch-foe a year ago in support of the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in Gaza and the conflict has sharply escalated in recent weeks.
Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza after the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas that resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures, including hostages killed in captivity.
The Israeli campaign has killed over 42,000 people, the majority civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory which the UN considers reliable.
Israeli operations in Lebanon have killed over 2,300 people over the last year, according to the health ministry, and more than 1.2 million people have been displaced. The death toll does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but includes hundreds of women and children.
With inputs from agencies