SIX people were wounded when a rocket hit an Egyptian town on the border with Israel last night, according to local media.

“As part of the current escalation in Gaza, a rocket crashed in Taba, lightly injuring six people”, AlQahera News television reported.

Witnesses told AFP that the rocket hit a hospital annex in the Red Sea town, which lies near a border crossing with Israel.

Images circulating online and in local media showed a damaged building and blown-up vehicles.

Egypt has played a key mediator role in the conflict that broke out after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, killing more than 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and seizing more than 220 others as hostages.

Hamas officials say Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip have killed more than 6,500 Palestinians, also mostly civilians.

Gaza’s Rafah border crossing with Egypt is the only entry point not controlled by Israel, and a key passage for food and aid.

On Wednesday, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi inspected Egyptian troops in Suez, telling them to “always be ready”. –  AFP, October 27, 2023.