Israel deploys Iron Dome on Egypt border

The Israeli army has deployed an Iron Dome air defense system, designed to intercept and destroy rockets, days after two rockets were fired at the town of Eilat near the border with Egypt, a military spokeswoman said Monday.

"An Iron Dome battery has been deployed in the town of Eilat as part of tests, momentarily modifying the sites where these systems are deployed," she said but did not give further details.

An Islamist group claimed responsibility for the two rocket attacks aimed at Eilat, Israel's Red Sea resort town, SITE Intelligence Group reported on Thursday.

A group calling itself Ansar Jerusalem claimed to be responsible for firing "two Grad rockets into the city" which it said hit "inhabited targets", in a statement posted on online jihadi forums, the US-based monitoring agency said.

On Wednesday, evening, Israeli police said two blasts rocked the city.

Debris of the rockets which were apparently fired from Egypt's Sinai peninsula was later found.

The United States has provided the bulk of the funding for Israel's Iron Dome batteries, despite a struggling economy back home.

(AFP, Al-Akhbar)