Two U.S. Navy pilots safely ejected from their aircraft over the Red Sea after their fighter jet was shot down in what appears to be a friendly fire incident.

F-18 fighter jets are stationed on the flight deck of the USS Gerald R. Ford in Gosport, England, on November 17, 2022. Photo credit: Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images/File.

Two U.S. Navy pilots successfully ejected from their fighter jet after it was shot down over the Red Sea on Saturday in what U.S. Central Command described as an apparent friendly fire incident.

According to initial assessments, the pilots were recovered, and one crew member suffered minor injuries.

The aircraft, an F/A-18, was operating from the USS Harry S. Truman when it was “mistakenly fired upon” by the USS Gettysburg, a Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser. The USS Gettysburg is part of the Truman carrier strike group, which had entered Middle Eastern waters just a week prior.

A full investigation is currently underway. CENTCOM emphasized that the incident was not the result of hostile fire. The Iran-backed Houthi militant group in Yemen has repeatedly made false claims about striking U.S. warships operating in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

The U.S. has maintained a nearly constant presence of major Navy warships in the region since the start of the war in Gaza, as the Houthis have targeted ships in the Red Sea, one of the world's busiest waterways, claiming these attacks are a response to Israel's actions against Hamas.

This apparent friendly fire incident coincided with U.S. airstrikes against Houthi targets in Yemen, which included a missile storage facility and a command-and-control facility in the capital, Sana’a. CENTCOM reported that U.S. forces also intercepted one-way attack drones and an anti-ship cruise missile during this operation, which involved Navy F/A-18 fighter jets and U.S. Air Force assets.

Two U.S. military officials clarified that the downed fighter jet was not involved in the strikes in Yemen.

The Houthis, who control Yemen's most populous regions, have stated they will continue targeting Israel and its allies until a ceasefire is reached in Gaza.

The incident involving the F/A-18 occurred on the same day that Houthi forces announced they had fired a hypersonic ballistic missile at an Israeli military target in Tel Aviv's Jaffa area. Israeli authorities reported that the missile struck Tel Aviv overnight into Saturday, marking a rare failure in interception efforts over the city. More than a dozen individuals sustained minor injuries, but no fatalities were reported.