Police in New Delhi are investigating reports of a possible explosion near the Israeli embassy in India, in what may be the second explosion at the embassy in two years.

A caller, later identified as a police official, informed police at about 6 pm local time that an explosion had occurred behind the embassy in the Chanakyapuri area.

Police rushed to the scene with a bomb disposal squad, but found no evidence of an explosion or explosive device. Police did find a letter described as "abusive" at the scene addressed to the Israeli ambassador, the Indian Express reported.

Two years ago, another explosion occurred outside the Israeli embassy in New Delhi. The blast damaged cars but caused no injuries, and was blamed on the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The IRGC was also behind a 2012 bombing in which the wife of an Israeli military attaché in India was wounded.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lior Haiat released a statement saying: “This evening (India time), there was an explosion near the Israeli embassy in New Delhi (100 meters from the embassy). There were no casualties as a result of the explosion and peace to all the envoys and embassy workers. The circumstances of the incident are under investigation by the local authorities in full cooperation with the Israeli security forces.”

In addition, a security guard and an embassy spokesperson told local media and Reuters that a loud noise was heard close to the embassy. One witness said that he saw smoke coming out of the top of a tree.

False bomb threats against Jewish institutions have been common in the US in the aftermath of the Hamas massacre of 1,200 people in southern Israel on October 7. On December 1, 15 synagogues across New York State received false bomb threats. Two weeks later, nearly 200 synagogues across the country received false bomb threats within 24 hours.