Members of Israeli forces are seen where a drone exploded in Tel Aviv on July 19, 2024. (Photo by AFP)

Sanaa, July 22 (RHC)-- The spokesman for Yemen’s Armed Forces has warned Israel against any further act of aggression against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, saying the coastal city of Tel Aviv in the 1948 Israeli-occupied territories is no longer a safe place as it is within range of Yemeni weapons.

“The Yemeni Army hereby declares that occupied Yafa [the name of the ancient Palestinian port city where Tel Aviv is established] is no longer a safe zone, and will continue to be a primary target within the range of our weapons.  We will focus on targeting sites and facilities deep inside the occupied lands,” Brigadier General Yahya Saree said in a televised speech broadcast live from the Yemeni capital Sana’a on Friday morning.

The remarks come as a drone hit an area near a US consular facility in Tel Aviv early on Friday, killing one person and injuring 10 others as the Israeli air defenses failed to intercept the drone. 

Saree highlighted that Yemeni air defense units employed for the first time an advanced and radar-evading unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), dubbed "Yafa," to strike Tel Aviv.  He described the operation as successful, noting that it had accomplished the desired objectives.

The high-profile Yemeni military official added that the drone strike was carried out in support of oppressed Palestinians in Gaza and their valiant resistance fighters, and in retaliation for the massacres that the Israeli military is perpetrating against the civilian population in the besieged territory.

Saree underscored that Yemeni Armed Forces have “a bank of Israeli targets”, including sensitive military and security buildings, and they will continue to strike such structures in response to the Israeli military's atrocities and daily crimes in Gaza.  

“The Yemeni Armed Forces' operations will continue in support of heroic resistance fighters in Gaza, who are defending our Arab and Muslim lands.  Our operations will not cease until the ongoing aggression against Gaza stops and the tight blockade on Palestinians is lifted,” he pointed out.

Yemenis have declared their open support for Palestine’s struggle against the Israeli occupation since the regime launched a devastating war on Gaza on October 7th.

Yemeni Armed Forces have long said that they won’t stop their attacks until Israeli ground and aerial offensives in Gaza, which have killed at least 38,848 people and wounded another 89,459 individuals, come to an end.

The leader of the Ansarullah resistance movement, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, has said that it is “a great honor and blessing to be confronting America directly.”  The attacks have forced some of the world’s biggest shipping and oil companies to suspend transit through one of the world’s most important maritime trade routes.

Tankers are instead adding thousands of miles to international shipping routes by sailing around the continent of Africa rather than going through the Suez Canal.