Tel Aviv Sirens Blare as Rocket Reportedly Intercepted - East Idaho News
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Tel Aviv Sirens Blare as Rocket Reportedly Intercepted

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Getty 070814 IronDome?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1404844526660Ilia Yefimovich/Getty Images(JERUSALEM) — A rocket aimed at Tel Aviv was intercepted on Tuesday as it was headed toward the Israeli capital, Israeli television reported amid escalating tensions in the region.

Air raid sirens went off throughout the city.

The Israeli military didn’t immediately confirm the report, but an explosion was heard shortly afterward.

The apparent rocket attack would be the deepest strike by Palestinian militants since Israel launched an offensive in the Gaza Strip earlier Tuesday.

Israeli TV stations say the rocket was intercepted by Israel’s “Iron Dome” defense system.

Residents have posted videos of the siren sounding to social media accounts.

One video, posted by Instagram user luizszutman, shows a man standing in a stairwell holding his ears as the siren blares in Tel Aviv.

Another shows a group running through the streets as the siren goes off.

The sirens sounded as the Israel Conference on Peace was being held at the InterContinental Hotel in Tel Aviv.

“The sirens went off outside and we couldn’t hear it but the security told us to gather in the main hall. As the video can tell, it wasn’t so scary but the irony is clear,” Instagram user Nirtzur, who shot the video of crowds gathered outside the hotel, told ABC News.

The reported rocket launch comes hours after the Israeli military struck more than 100 sites in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

The Israeli strike reportedly came by both air and sea. It has been seen as a response to rocket fire from Hamas that has gone progressively further into Israel in recent days.

The current fighting began after three Israeli teenage boys were found murdered. A Palestinian teenager was later found burned to death in apparent retaliation.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blames Hamas for the teeangers deaths and militants launched rockets towards Israel in defiance.


Copyright 2014 ABC News Radio

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