CAIRO/JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Projectiles hit two Egyptian Red Sea towns on Friday injuring several people, sources and officials said, showing the risk of regional spillover from the Israel-Gaza conflict.
The explosions hit Taba on the border with Israel and Nuweiba about 70 km (43 miles) further away, two Egyptian security sources told Reuters, saying they were still gathering more information.
There was no claim of responsibility, but Egypt’s state-linked Al-Qahera News said the missile that hit Taba appeared to be connected to fighting between Hamas militants and the Israeli military around Gaza, about 220 km (137 miles)miles away.
Egypt’s health ministry said six people were injured in Taba, with four already discharged from hospital, after an ambulance facility and residential building were hit.
Witnesses in both places, who asked not to be named, confirmed explosions and smoke rising. Israel’s military said it was aware of a security incident outside its borders.
Taba and Nuweiba, both in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, are popular with tourists.
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 Eliat, 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.
Adding to an increasingly risky situation in the region, the U.S. military said last week a Navy warship in the Red Sea intercepted projectiles launched by Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi group potentially toward Israel.
(Reporting by Emily Rose in Jerusalem, Ahmed Mohamed Hassan, Nafisa Eltahir, Ahmed Tolba and Hatem Maher in Cairo, Yusri Mohamed in Ismailia, Egypt, Nadine Awadalla in Dubai; writing by Rami Ayyub and Nafisa Eltahir; Editing by Michael Perry and Andrew Cawthorne)
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