A Grad-model Katyusha rocket slammed into the southern Arava near Uvda overnight
between Friday and Saturday.
Sappers were sent to the scene early
Saturday morning after residents complained of hearing a loud explosion the
night before. After locating the remains of the rocket, the sappers
determined it had been a 122 mm. Katyusha.
The IDF was
investigating whether the rocket was fired from Egypt or Jordan. The Egyptian
daily Al-Masry Al Youm quoted an Egyptian security source as denying that it
came from Sinai.
“These are simply false allegations by Israel aimed at
destabilizing the security situation and affecting [Egypt’s] electoral process,”
the security source said. Egypt is holding the second round of its presidential
elections this weekend.
Police bomb squad officers found the remains of a
second rocket on Saturday at Mitzpe Ramon, in the heart of the
Negev.
“It’s a 122 millimeter-diameter Grad-type rocket, the same type of
rocket that was fired earlier at Uvda,” police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told
The Jerusalem Post.
Security officials were examining when the rocket was
launches, as well as additional circumstances surrounding the incident.
A
number of rockets were fired into the Eilat area last April from the Sinai,
which is now considered a terror hotbed. Hamas, for example, is believed to
store some of its weapons there to protect them from Israeli airstrikes on the
Gaza Strip.
In 2005, a rocket was fired from Jordan into Eilat.