According to an Egyptian military spokesman, an unidentified drone fell this morning, Friday 27 October, in the Egyptian coastal town of Taba which is close to Eilat and Aqaba on the northern tip of the Gulf of Aqaba where Egypt, Israel and Jordan share borders.
The drone fell near a Taba hospital, slightly injuring six men who were given the necessary treatment and later discharged.
The military spokesman said the incident is being investigated by the relevant authorities.
Al-Qahera News TV channel reported that an official Egyptian source said that Egypt will have “all options on the table” once the origin of the drone launch is verified. Egypt, the source said, reserves the right to respond appropriately.
The Israeli army claimed that the strike in Taba originated from the Red Sea area and was meant to hit Eilat but accidentally fell in Taba. The Times of Israel says the Israeli army was referring to Yemen.
Later in the day, a projectile hit close to an electric power plant in Nuweiba on the Gulf of Aqaba south of Taba; operation of the power plant and network, however, were not disrupted, Egyptian officials declared. An investigation is underway.
Today’s incidents come a few days after an Israeli tank fired on an Egyptian border surveillance tower in Karm Abu Salem on Egypt’s border with the Gaza Strip.
The Egyptian army spokesperson said the shelling was “accidental” and caused minor injuries to several military surveillance personnel. The Israeli army apologised for the incident, insisting it was accidental.
Friday 27 October is the 21st day of vicious fighting between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
Israeli air strikes have destroyed half the residential buildings in Gaza, rendering some 1.4 million of its 2.3 million population homeless, killing 7,326 Palestinians and injuring more than 19,000; the figures were declared by the Palestinian Health ministry.
With Gaza under a continued Israeli blockade of food, water, power, and fuel, hospitals are complaining that they are running dangerously low on fuel necessary to remain operational.
The UNRWA and international aid organisations say the population in Gaza faces starvation.
Egypt has been intensifying efforts to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza Strip, but Israel has only allowed in a trickle of the international aid queueing at the Egyptian border.
Israel is pressuring Egypt to let Palestinian refugees into Sinai until the Israeli army “eradicates” Hamas, but Egypt is adamantly refusing to do so because such a move would mean the expulsion of Gazans from Gaza, and would constitute a threat to Egypt’s national security.