BICOM

Rockets fired from Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula at the Israeli city of Eilat were intercepted last night by the Iron Dome anti-missile system.

Early rocket warning sirens were sounded in Eilat, Israel’s southernmost city, just before 11pm local time. Three rockets were successfully intercepted by the Iron Dome, while a fourth landed in an open area, causing no damage. Nobody was injured in the attack, but several Eilat residents were taken to hospital suffering from shock or anxiety. Rocket fragments were later found scattered in the city.

Army Radio reported that shortly after the interception, head of the IDF Southern Command Maj Gen Eyal Zamir informed the mayor of Eilat, Meir Yitzhak Halevi, that the city could return to a normal routine.

Itsik Alfasi, a senior Eilat police officer told Israel Radio: “When there is a successful interception the city returns to routine quickly, as people understand that the city is protected.”

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the rocket fire. However, ISIS-affiliate Sinai Province terror group has previously been responsible for rocket attacks on Israel. Since the ousting of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt in 2013, the group has violently opposed the government of Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, persistently attacking Egyptian military forces in Sinai and inflicting serious casualties.

ISIS also made clear that it was committed to attacking Israel. In July 2015, Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, which renamed itself Sinai Province after affiliating to ISIS in November 2014, fired three Grad rockets into southern Israel and the year before two rockets landed in Eilat during Operation Protective Edge causing light injuries and damage to a car.

The group is also thought to have been responsible for a complex terror attack in 2011, which saw four terrorist groups attack an Israeli civilian bus and several army vehicles near the Egyptian border. Six civilians, two IDF personnel and several Egyptian soldiers were killed.