One immediate, short-term response, some analysts said, might be a cease-fire deal between Hamas and Israel, a move that could halt attacks from Hamas's allies, like the Houthis and Hezbollah in Lebanon. While the Houthis' opposition to Israel long preceded the war in Gaza, the group had rarely attacked Israeli interests before it began. A truce in Gaza could "prompt some kind of a lull for a while" in Yemen and Lebanon, said Relik Shafir, a former general in the Israeli Air Force. But while mediators say they are edging closer to sealing a Gaza cease-fire, key gaps between Israel and Hamas remain, and parts of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing coalition oppose compromising on Hamas's main demands. In the long term, the Houthis also remain committed to Israel's total destruction and would most likely not be placated for long by a temporary truce in Gaza or an end to Israel's occupation of the West Bank. The Houthis are a Yemeni Shiite militia that over the past decade seized control of large parts of western Yemen, including its capital, Sana, and Red Sea coastline.

A Russian missile hit a children's playground in Ukraine's southern city of Mykolaiv, killing a child and two adults, and injuring five others, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Telegram. Vitaliy Kim, the regional governor, praised residents who rushed to the site to help before medics arrived and said another missile had landed elsewhere in the region. Russian drones launched in an overnight attack on Ukraine hit energy infrastructure facilities in two regions in the country's north, the Reuters news agency reported, citing Ukrainian regional officials. One of the Shahed drones hit an energy facility in the Sumy region while another struck a site in the Chernihiv region. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

Israel's defense minister struck an ominous tone Friday after an Iranian-made drone fired by Houthi rebels in Yemen struck Tel Aviv, telling Israeli media that Jerusalem would "settle the score." "I held an operational situation assessment this morning to review the steps required to strengthen our defense arrays in light of events overnight, as well as the intelligence and operational activities required against those responsible for the attack," Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant said in a statement. "The year 2024 is marked by war. We must be prepared for every scenario and every arena." Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant sits with defense officials after a Yemen-based Houthi drone strike on Tel Aviv July 19, 2024.

Yemen's Houthi group has claimed responsibility for the drone that struck overnight in Tel Aviv, Israel, killing one person and injuring eight. Israeli media identified the dead man as 50-year-old Yevgeny Ferder, who had moved to Israel from Belarus at the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine war. Last night's strike is unique -- it's the first time the group is known to have hit Tel Aviv, though the Houthi have waged a continued campaign against targets they claim are linked to Israel since the ongoing devastating war on Gaza broke out in October. The drone struck in central Tel Aviv in the early hours of Friday morning. The site itself is thought to be close to a number of hotels, many hosting those displaced from Israel's northern border with Lebanon. A US embassy office is also close to the site of the attack.

The Iran-backed Houthi militia claimed responsibility for a rare drone attack in central Tel Aviv that crashed into a building near the United States Embassy branch office early Friday, killing at least one person and wounding eight others. Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the Israeli military spokesman, told reporters that Israel's defense systems had apparently picked up the drone but failed to register it as a threat. No air-raid sirens were activated to warn civilians of the attack, despite Israel's extensive aerial defense system. "We are investigating why we did not identify it, attack it and intercept it," Admiral Hagari said. The Israeli military said the drone had likely flown from Yemen, where the Houthis are based, before approaching Tel Aviv from the coast.

First responders are on scene in Tel Aviv after a large explosion rocked the city in the middle of the night. The blast happened approximately one block from a U.S. embassy branch office. An explosion that rocked Tel Aviv overnight Thursday has left one person dead and several others wounded. Military officials say they believe the source of the explosion was a deadly drone attack, and Yemen's Houthi rebels have already claimed responsibility for a drone strike in the area near the U.S. embassy, the Associated Press reported. The drone was not intercepted despite it being identified prior to the explosion due to human error.

Videos show the moment a drone struck a building in Israel's Tel Aviv, killing one person and injuring several more. Yemen's Houthis say they were behind the attack.

Russian attacks on Ukraine's front-line Donetsk region have killed five civilians and injured three, damaging private houses and a residential building, the Reuters news agency reported, citing prosecutors. A couple was killed by artillery shelling in the village of Pleshchiivka, while three women were killed in a strike in the village of Hrodivka. The Russian military also dropped two guided bombs on the village of Velyka Novosilka in Donetsk, injuring a man and his wife inside their house, authorities in eastern Ukraine said. Debris from a downed Ukrainian drone wounded two people in the Russian city of Kursk, the acting regional governor, Alexei Smirnov, said on the Telegram messaging app. Russia's Ministry of Defence said 19 drones had been destroyed overnight, including 11 over the Kursk region, the Interfax news agency reported.

Yemen's Houthi fighters have claimed responsibility following a suspected drone attack on Israel's Tel Aviv, which killed one person and injured at least 10, according to reports. A spokesperson for the Houthi armed forces said in a post on social media on Friday that the Yemen-based group had "targeted'Tel Aviv' in occupied Palestine". The Israeli military said it had opened an investigation into the large explosion near the United States Embassy office in the city and would determine why the country's air defence systems were not activated to intercept the "aerial target". Israel's air force has increased patrols to "protect the country's skies", the military added in a post on social media. Israeli police said the body of a man was found in an apartment close to the explosion and that the circumstances were being investigated.

The Israeli military says it is investigating an apparent drone attack that hit central Tel Aviv in the early hours of Friday. In a statement it said an initial inquiry indicated the explosion had been caused by the falling of an "aerial target" and announced it was increasing air patrols. Israeli emergency services say the explosion left one person dead and several lightly injured. Yemen's Houthi militants, which are backed by Iran, announced on social media that they would reveal details about a military operation that had targeted Tel Aviv. The incident also came after the Israeli military confirmed it had killed a senior commander of the Hezbollah militia in southern Lebanon.