False alarm, army says, as sirens blare in southern Israel
Army says it is investigating why the system was triggered unnecessarily in Sha’ar Hanegev region
Judah Ari Gross is The Times of Israel's religions and Diaspora affairs correspondent.
Sirens blared in southern Israel on Wednesday morning in a false alarm, sending residents scrambling to their bomb shelters, the army said.
The Israel Defense Forces said it was investigating why the system was triggered, amid sky-high tensions along the Gaza border.
The alarm sounded in the community of Yakhini in the Sha’ar Hanegev region, according to the IDF Home Front Command.
The false alarm came a day after numerous fires blazed through southern Israel, apparently sparked by so-called “fire kites” launched by Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
On Saturday night and early Sunday morning, terrorist groups in the coastal enclave launched several rounds of rockets at communities in southern Israel. Most of the incoming projectiles were shot down by the Iron Dome missile defense system. The others caused neither casualties nor damage.
Wednesday’s sirens came a week after a massive flareup in which Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and smaller terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip launched approximately 200 rockets and mortar shells at southern Israel.
The IDF retaliated by bombing over 65 targets in the Gaza Strip belonging to the Iran-backed Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas, which rules the coastal enclave.
