Hamas launches first rocket attack on Tel Aviv in months

The Palestinian Islamist group Hamas fired rockets at Tel Aviv for the first time in four months, triggering warning sirens in the Israeli city on Sunday.

Several explosions were heard in the centre of Tel Aviv and rocket alarms also sounded in several towns in the wider area. The Hamas military wing claimed responsibility for the attacks.

According to paramedics, two women were lightly injured as they rushed to shelters.

The Israeli military said eight rockets were fired from the city of Rafah in southern Gaza, where Israel is continuing its military operation despite a recent International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling ordering it to stop.

"A number" of missiles were intercepted by Israel's air defence system, the military said. Tel Aviv was last attacked with rockets from the Gaza Strip on January 29.

Meanwhile badly needed aid to the Gaza Strip started coming from Egypt through the Kerem Shalom crossing on Sunday for the first time in nearly three weeks, an Egyptian TV station reported.

The state-affiliated al-Qahera News TV said 200 trucks carrying humanitarian supplies were moving from outside the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing, heading to the Karm Abu Salem crossing or Kerem Shalom.

They included four fuel trucks and began moving through Kerem Shalom, according to the broadcaster.

Earlier this month, Israel took control of the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing with Egypt, in an operation that halted aid deliveries via the vital facility into the heavily populated strip.

Since the closure of the Rafah crossing, Egypt has indicated it will not coordinate aid transports through Rafah until the Israeli forces withdraw.

Hamas has recently attacked the Kerem Shalom crossing and Israeli settlements with rockets.

US President Joe Biden and Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sissi earlier this week agreed on aid deliveries to Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing.

Egypt will hand over humanitarian aid and fuel to the United Nations at the crossing in a temporary arrangement until a legal mechanism is reached to reopen the Rafah crossing from the Palestinian side, an Egyptian presidency statement said.