Police are not being forthcoming on the cause of the explosion.

Five injured, including one person in a serious condition, after blast in the south Tel Aviv neighborhood; rescue teams still working at the site.

A building in Jaffa collapsed in a ball of flames after a large explosion there late Monday night, wounding at least five people, including one in a serious condition.

The blast took place at a paint store on Yefet Street in the southern Tel Aviv neighborhood.

The seriously wounded person, a man in his 40s, was suffering from severe burns, medics said. They were evacuated to hospital, and several others were treated for shock.

The cause of the explosion was not immediately clear, police said.

“There was an explosion in a Tambur paint store, a one story building that completely collapsed,” Avi Yehuda from the fire service told Israel Radio, adding that there were six fire fighting teams at the scene.

“The firefighters are extinguishing the flames and will then start searching for anybody trapped,” he said.

Israel’s Hadashot news reported on voices coming from inside the building, indicating people may be trapped inside. However, other media outlets reported that the building was not residential and empty at the time.

Medics at the scene said that they were still being prevented from going near the building and several rescue teams were there, including the army’s Home Front command rescue team.

Video from the scene showed the building completely destroyed as a large fire raged.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/building-in-jaffa-partially-collapses-after-explosion/