Six people were injured when a rocket fell on the night of Thursday to Friday in Tampa, an Egyptian city on the border with Israel, due to a rocket, against the background of the war that the Israeli army has been waging since October 7 with the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip since October 7 , media and eyewitnesses reported.

“Amidst the current escalation in Gaza, a rocket fell in Taba, causing six minor injuries and material damage to an apartment building,” reported Egypt’s Al-Qahera television, widely believed to have sources in the Egyptian intelligence service.

Tampa, opposite Eilat, a tourist destination, is more than 350 kilometers from the Gaza Strip.

Eyewitnesses confirmed to AFP and Reuters news agency that an explosion occurred in the Red Sea city on the northeastern tip of the Sinai Peninsula, where a border crossing to Israel operates, and that a building and vehicles were damaged.

The Israeli military announced that it was “aware” of a “security incident” in Tampa, “outside our borders.”

Egypt, a country that has historically played a mediating role between Israel and the Palestinians and also controls the only border crossing to and from the Gaza Strip that is not in Israeli hands, has been on the front lines since October 7,

In the unprecedented attack launched on Israeli territory that day by Hamas, more than 1,400 people, mostly civilians, were killed, according to Israeli authorities. Since then, more than 7,000 Palestinians, also mostly civilians, have been killed in the Israeli army’s relentless shelling of the Gaza Strip, according to the latest tally from the Hamas health ministry.

At the same time, Hamas continues to launch, like other Palestinian armed organizations, barrages of rockets against Israel.

On Sunday, the Israeli army said its tank “accidentally” hit an Egyptian position on the border of the Gaza Strip. Cairo announced the incident and that the Israeli army apologized, citing “minor injuries” among its ranks.

Also on Sunday, Egypt held a “peace summit” and has not stopped calling for de-escalation.

The day before Wednesday, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi inspected units of the Egyptian armed forces in Suez, at the entrance to the Sinai Peninsula, recommended “reason” and “patience” to his men and called on them to be “always ready”.