JERUSALEM, April 5 (Reuters) – A rocket fired from Egypt’s
Sinai desert struck the southern Israeli city of Eilat on
Thursday causing no casualties or damage, Israeli police said.
The head of Eilat police, Ron Gertner, told Army Radio that
explosions were heard in the holiday resort soon after midnight.
Police found the remains of one rocket in a construction site,
about 400 metres from a residential area.
Asked if the rocket was fired from Sinai, Gertner said:
“Based on our working assumptions and the (rocket) range, yes.”
He added that police were searching for more rockets that may
have landed.
The rocket attack came on the eve of the Jewish Passover
holiday when the Red Sea resort is expected to be full of
vacationers.
Officials in Israel are concerned that the Sinai desert has
become a flourishing base for Islamist militants since former
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s downfall last year.
The Israel-Egypt border had been relatively quiet since the
two countries signed a peace agreement in 1979. But Israel says
that since Mubarak was overthrown, Cairo has lost its grip on
the Sinai and militants are exploiting the lawlessness.
Last August armed infiltrators killed eight Israelis on the
Egyptian frontier. Israel’s forces, repelling the gunmen, killed
five Egyptian border troops. Israel said the attack was
orchestrated by Palestinian militants.
To fend of infiltration, Israel has been building a fence
along the southern border which it hopes to complete by the end
of 2012. When it is finished, the barrier will run most of the
266 km (165 miles) from Eilat on the Red Sea’s Gulf of Aqaba up
to the already-closed Gaza Strip on the Mediterranean.
(Writing by Maayan Lubell; editing by Crispian Balmer)
