London- Israel’s all-weather air defense system, the “Iron Dome,” said Wednesday that it had intercepted rockets targeting southern Israeli port, Eilat.
The projectiles were reportedly launched from Egypt’s Sinai peninsula late Wednesday, no casualties were recorded.
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) issued a statement saying that the Iron Dome successfully intercepted a volley of rockets, with at least three projectiles targeting inhabited areas. A fourth rocket landed on an uninhabited area.
“Some of these rockets were destroyed in flight by Iron Dome batteries,” a spokeswoman said, referring to Israel’s anti-missile interception system.
An official at Eilat town hall told Israeli public radio that three rockets had been intercepted and a fourth had exploded outside the town. The Sinai is the theatre of fierce fighting between Egyptian security forces and so-called Sinai Province, a bastion for terror groups and ISIS offshoots.
Despite the absence of casualties, a state of panic broke across the city as sounds of warning sirens went off. Police patrols swept most of the city in search of the hazardous debris left behind by the interceptors.
The last Egypt-based attack on Eilat occurred in 2012, with no losses registered.
Meanwhile, two Palestinians were killed and five wounded overnight, Hamas said Thursday in Gaza, after tightening tensions near the Egypt-Israel border. The Gaza health ministry blamed an Israeli air strike.
The incident comes after several rockets were fired Wednesday evening from Egypt’s Sinai, which borders the Gaza Strip, at the Israeli Red Sea resort of Eilat. The Israeli military however had not confirmed by early Thursday that it had carried out retaliatory strikes.
Asharq Al-Awsat
Asharq Al-Awsat is the world’s premier pan-Arab daily newspaper, printed simultaneously each day on four continents in 14 cities. Launched in London in 1978, Asharq Al-Awsat has established itself as the decisive publication on pan-Arab and international affairs, offering its readers in-depth analysis and exclusive editorials, as well as the most comprehensive coverage of the entire Arab world.
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