Reuters, ASHKELON, IsraelA rocket on Wednesday was launched from the Gaza Strip at a southern Israeli city where Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s election campaign was hosting a rally, forcing him to take shelter briefly before resuming the event, Israeli TV stations reported. The Israeli military confirmed the launch against Ashkelon, which is 12km from the Palestinian enclave, and said that the rocket was shot down by an Iron Dome air defense interceptor. Israeli TV stations showed Netanyahu, who was campaigning to keep the helm of the conservative Likud party in an internal election yesterday, being escorted off a stage by bodyguards, with the reports saying that he was taken to a shelter after sirens sounded. It was the second such incident after a September appearance by Netanyahu in the nearby town of Ashdod was briefly disrupted by a rocket siren. “He [al-Atta] is no longer around,” a video circulated on social media showed a smiling Netanyahu saying after he retook the stage in Ashkelon, to cheers from onlookers.

Source: Taipei Times December 26, 2019 16:05 UTC