By Ahmed Mohamed Hassan and Dan Williams
CAIRO/JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Projectiles hit two Egyptian Red Sea towns on Friday, sources and officials said, injuring six people and showing the risk of regional spillover from the Israel-Gaza conflict.
Israel’s military blamed an “aerial threat” in the Red Sea region: a possible reference to Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi movement which is known to use drones.
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 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 U.S. 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’ Oct. 7 assault on Israel and the subsequent bombardment of the Gaza Strip.
Cairo has been prominently advocating for aid flows into Gaza, the release of Hamas’ 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 Islamist group’s longest-range Palestinian attack of the flare-up since Oct. 7.
(Reporting by Emily Rose and Dan Williams in Jerusalem, Ahmed Mohamed Hassan, Nafisa Eltahir, Ahmed Tolba, Hatem Maher, and Mai Shams El-Din in Cairo, Yusri Mohamed in Ismailia, Nadine Awadalla and Ahmed Elimam in Dubai; writing by Rami Ayyub and Nafisa Eltahir; Editing by Michael Perry and Andrew Cawthorne)
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