Reports are coming in about a loud explosion heard in downtown Tel Aviv, Israel, Thursday night. The full details of the situation are not yet known, but it’s clear that whatever caused this blast created significant damage.
Israeli media reported a loud explosion on Ben Yehuda Street on the corner of Shalom Aleichem in Tel Aviv.
Police, fire, and rescue services were deployed to the area and told Israeli media that there was no fire. The source of the explosion is not yet known.
Residents who live near the place of the explosion say that objects were shattered in their houses as a result of the blast.
Fox News' Trey Yingst is on the ground and said he was being cautious with his reporting until he knows more:
I have to be really careful about the information we're reporting right now. I’m still gathering what took place but there was a loud explosion in Tel Aviv earlier this hour. I could hear it from where I was on the southern end of the city. This is close to the center of the city next to the U.S. embassy; you can see that there are emergency crews on the scene right now.
There’s a building behind that there are teams inside of, and you can see some of those lights that are being put up on the side of the building. I’ll continue to gather information and keep you updated on what I find.
Watch:
He followed up with another post showing some of the damage:
There are an unknown number of injuries at this time.
Magen David Adom reported that a 37-year-old man and a 25-year-old woman were slightly injured, and they are fully conscious and were taken to the Ichilov Hospital with shrapnel injuries to their limbs and shoulder. In addition, four were being treated for shock at the scene.
The Israelis have said there were no reported attacks from the air:
The Home Front Command stated: "No aerial intrusion into the country's central area was detected, and therefore no alarm was triggered - the incident is under investigation."
Whatever it was, though, it was clearly significant:
Various theories are floating around on the internet that it was either a drone strike or a car bomb, but no cause has yet been determined. RedState will update you as events warrant.