Israel’s Iron Dome missile defence system on Friday shot down a rocket fired at the Red Sea resort city of Eilat, an occasional target of militants in Egypt’s lawless Sinai peninsula.

“The Iron Dome system intercepted a rocket fired at Eilat,” an Israeli military spokeswoman said. “It was probably launched from Sinai.”

Earlier this month an al Qaeda-inspired group in Egypt claimed responsibility for a similar rocket attack on Eilat and, saying it was undeterred by Egyptian security sweeps, threatened to continue to target Israel.

Israel has occasionally come under rocket fire from the Sinai peninsula, although a new fortified fence along the frontier and periodic Egyptian security crackdowns have kept the militants largely in check.