Sirens heard in Jerusalem and Eilat in a false alarm, military says

Sirens were heard in some areas of Jerusalem and the southern city of Eilat on Sunday afternoon, in what the military said were false alarms.

In an initial statement, the Israel Defense Forces said the sirens were a result of a technical malfunction, but later said they sounded on civilian loudspeakers, not of those belonging to the military’s Home Front Command.

“There is no fear of a security incident,” the IDF stated, adding that it was further investigating the incident.

Jerusalem residents reported hearing the sirens in the city’s Katamonim, Beit HaKarem, and Neve Yaakov neighborhoods. They said the alerts lasted for nearly an hour.

Nir, a resident of the city, told the Walla news site that the alarms were a “pure nightmare.”

“There are loud sirens that give you a headache, very unpleasant. The unpleasant feeling when such a loud noise takes over your environment,” he said.

Sunday’s malfunction is the second in less than a month, with sirens heard throughout Tel Aviv last month in what the IDF said was a “malfunction in the public announcement system used at the Kirya Base” — the army’s headquarters in the center of the city.