Two rockets from Egypt's Sinai hit Israel; no injuries
Xinhua, February 20, 2017 Adjust font size:
Two rockets that were fired from Egypt's Sinai have exploded in southern Israel on Monday morning, the army said, in the second such incident over the past month.
The rockets landed in an empty field, causing no injuries, a military spokesperson said in a statement.
"Projectiles launched from the Sinai Peninsula hit an open area in the Eshkol Regional Council," the statement read.
No organization immediately claimed responsibility for the fire.
The incident came amid rising tension between Israel and an Islamic State affiliate in Sinai.
On Feb. 8, the group, known as the Sinai Province, fired four rockets at the Red Sea Israeli resort city of Eilat, in a rare incident along the usually peaceful border.
Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system intercepted three of the rockets, and the fourth rocket exploded in an open field, causing no injuries or damage.
On Sunday, the Islamic State affiliated news agency Amaq said that four of its members were killed by an Israeli drone in northern Sinai and that the group plans to retaliate with rockets.
In 2014, Ansar Bait al-Maqdis, a Salafi jihadist group in Sinai, fired several rockets at Eilat in two separate incidents. Endit