Siren error causes confusion in Tel Aviv
Residents on edge days after major Gaza conflagration; IDF says klaxon activated by mistake, is looking into the incident
A warning siren was erroneously activated in Tel Aviv shortly after 12 p.m. Tuesday, causing confusion among residents.
The siren lasted about a minute. It did not have the rising and falling pitch of a regular rocket warning alert, but rather the monotonous tone of Holocaust Remembrance Day and Memorial Day sirens.
According to the Ynet news site, some residents ran for cover while others stood still, mistaking it for the Memorial Day siren that will ring out at 8 p.m. Tuesday.
The IDF said the siren was activated at military headquarters in the city due to an error and that the issue was being looked into.
צפירה נשמעה בתל אביב, ככל הנראה בשל תקלה@daniel_elazar pic.twitter.com/Pz1bqPI5vp
— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) May 7, 2019
It was not clear whether the klaxon was accidentally activated several hours early or whether the incident was unrelated to Memorial Day.
However, coming in the wake of several days of intense fighting between Israel and terror groups in Gaza, which saw hundreds of rockets launched at Israeli communities (though not Tel Aviv), it found Israelis particularly on edge.
