Hours after a drone strike hit a flotilla carrying aid to Gaza, Israel is now telling it to offload the aid it is carrying at a nearby country, accusing it of "provocation."

"If this is not about provocation and serving Hamas, you are welcome to unload any aid you might have at any port in a nearby country outside Israel, from which it can be transferred peacefully to Gaza," Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar said in a statement Wednesday.

"Israel will not allow vessels to enter an active combat zone and will not allow the breach of a lawful naval blockade," he said.

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel will retaliate after a Houthi drone strike on southern Israel injured 22 people.

"The Prime Minister wished a speedy recovery to the wounded, and said that any attack on Israeli cities will be met with a severe and painful blow to the Houthi terrorist regime, as has already been proven in the past," Netanyahu's office said in a statement Wednesday.

"The Prime Minister informed [Eilat] Mayor [Eli Lankari] that he spoke this evening with the IDF's senior command in order to examine ways to improve the response to aerial threats to the city," Netanyahu's office said.

-ABC News' Will Gretsky

An Italian naval ship has been sent to aid the Sumud Flotilla carrying aid to Gaza after it suffered a drone attack. Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto condemned the attack on the flotilla, which has Italian citizens aboard.

"In a democracy, even demonstrations and forms of protest must be protected when they are conducted in compliance with the rules of international law and without resorting to violence," he said in a statement.

The Global Sumud Flotilla suffered an attack while sailing in international waters, according to Anabel Montes Mier, the mission chief of the ship "Life Support," the Italian nongovernmental organization EMERGENCY's support vessel.

"We saw straight a high presence of drones in the air which approached from different directions. We also saw the flashing light of the explosion that hit some boats. The Flotilla told us that no one was injured but it only suffered small damage to some of the boats," Mier said in a statement.

"We remind all that this is a humanitarian non-violent mission and we condemn strongly any act of violence or attack to the Global Sumud Flotilla," Mier said.

-ABC News' 'Will Gretsky

At least 22 people were injured, including two seriously, after a Houthi drone strike in Eilat, in southern Israel, officials said Wednesday.

Search and rescue teams are working the area where a UAV launched from Yemen came down, according to a statement from the Israel Defense Forces.

Sirens sounded and interception attempts were made before the drone came down, the IDF said.

Five of the injured had “shrapnel injuries” and were transported to Yoseftal Hospital, according to a spokesperson for the MDA, Israel’s national EMS organization said. Others were being treated for injuries at the scene, according to the spokesperson.

-ABC News' Jordana Miller