Sinai-based militants fired three rockets on the Southern Israeli city of Eilat shortly before 1 am on Tuesday without causing casualties, Israel’s channel 2 television reported.
Channel 2 said Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile battery has intercepted two of the rockets. The third fell on a deserted land.
A state of alert was declared among the Israeli police and army in Eilat. There were no immediate reports of casualties, according to Israeli paper Haaretz.
Israeli media said Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, a little-known militant group in Sinai, has declared responsibility for the attack, which apparently comes in retaliation for the killing of at least four suspected militants last Friday by an air strike in northern Sinai.
Friday’s attack sparked controversy as media reports said it was carried out in collaboration between the Egyptian and Israeli armies, a claim that was vehemently denied by the Egyptian armed forces. Israel declined to comment.
Following the attack, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis issued a statement that was posted online condemning the alleged collaboration, saying: “What is greater treason than the Egyptian army allowing the Zionist drones to violate Egyptian airspace now and then?”
Source : Ahram
