User:Jalapenos do exist/sandbox/eilat

Rocket attacks on Eilat and Aqaba, adjacent Red Sea resort cities in Israel and Jordan respectively, have occurred on several occasions.

August 2, 2010
Five missiles were launched toward Eilat. One Grad type Katyusha rocket detonated near the Intercontinental Hotel in Aqaba. Four Jordanian men traveling in a taxi nearby were wounded by the blast, and one later died of his injuries. The hotel itself was not damaged. A second missile hit an open area on the northern outskirts of Eilat, and three other missiles fell into the Red Sea. Jordanian national killed in multiple militant rocket strike

An anonymous Jordanian political source assessed that the attack was perpetrated by Al-Tawhid wa al-Jihad, a radical Muslim group which opposes Hamas and collaborates with Sinai Bedouin who are at odds with the Egyptian authorities. The Jordanian source also said that Egypt considered "Palestinian factions" to be responsible for the attacks, without mentioning Hamas specifically. Hamas and Islamic Jihad denied any link with the attacks.

Israeli President Shimon Peres said the attack appeared to be aimed at disrupting the possible resumption of direct peace talks between the Israeli and Palestinian leaderships for the first time in over 18 months. "There is a real struggle in the Middle East between the peace camp of moderate countries and the camp of extremists, who want to sabotage any chance of peace," Peres said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made similar comments, telling Jordan's King Abdullah and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak that the attack telling "was committed by terror agents who want to thwart the peace process". "All states in the region that aspire towards peace should fight these powers, push terror away and bring peace closer," he added.