Blasts hit two Egyptian Red Sea towns, Israel points to 'aerial threat'

Projectiles hit two Egyptian Red Sea towns on Friday, sources and officials said, injuring six people and showing the risk of regional spill-over from the Israel-Gaza conflict, Reuters reports.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry said the missiles and drones, which its military identified as an “aerial threat” in the area of the Red Sea, were launched by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi Movement “with the intention of harming Israel.”

Egyptian army spokesperson, Colonel Gharib Abdel-Hafez said an “unidentified drone” crashed into a building adjacent to a hospital injuring the six in Taba, on the border with Israel, in the early hours.

Later, another projectile fell near an electricity plant in a desert area of the town of Nuweiba, about 70 km (43 miles) from the border, two Egyptian security sources told Reuters, adding that they were still gathering more information.

There was no claim of responsibility.

Taba and Nuweiba, both in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, are popular with tourists.

Witnesses in both the places, who asked not to be named, confirmed hearing explosions and seeing smoke rising, plus Egyptian warplanes flying overhead.

Egypt exposed

Without specifying the location, Israel’s military spokesperson, Daniel Hagari, said combat helicopters were scrambled when “an aerial threat was spotted in the Red Sea region”.

“To our understanding, the strike that took place in Egypt originated in this threat,” he added in a televised briefing. “Israel will work with Egypt and the United States, and bolster regional defences against threats from the Red Sea region.”

The US said last week a Navy warship in the Red Sea intercepted projectiles launched by the Houthis, potentially toward Israel.

Bordering both Gaza and Israel, Egypt is exposed to the conflict that blew up after Hamas’s 7 October assault on Israel and the subsequent bombardment of the Gaza Strip.

READ: Israelis urge Egypt to help free hostages in Gaza

Cairo has been prominently advocating for aid flows into Gaza, the release of Hamas’s hostages and a ceasefire.

Last weekend, several Egyptian border guards were injured after being accidentally hit by fragments of a shell from an Israeli tank. Israel apologised for the incident.

On Wednesday, Hamas said it had targeted the Israeli town of Eilat, adjacent to Taba across the border, with a missile in what appeared to be the group’s longest-range Palestinian attack of the flare-up since. 7 October.