Rockets fired toward Israel, kill one person in Jordan

JERUSALEM - A string of rockets was fired early Monday toward the Israeli resort city of Eilat, and one hit in neighboring Jordan, killing one person and wounding four, officials in the two countries said.

The rockets appeared to have been fired from the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt, an Israeli police spokesman said, though Egypt denied the claim.

It was the second such attack this year, following a similar volley in April that Israeli authorities say was also fired from Egypt.

Israel has warned repeatedly of Islamic militant activity in the Sinai, where suicide bombers killed dozens of people - including tourists and Israelis - in attacks on resorts between 2004 and 2006. Weapons smuggling is rife on the peninsula.

A series of explosions was heard early Monday along the narrow coast of the Red Sea where Eilat in Israel and the Jordanian city of Aqaba - both popular tourist destinations - are located side by side.

The Israeli police spokesman, Micky Rosenfeld, said the blasts were caused by rockets that were believed to have been fired from the Sinai. He said no one was injured in Eilat. Mayor Meir Itzhak Halevi told Israel Radio there was no sign any of the rockets hit inside Eilat's city limits. Israeli media reported that three rockets fell into the Red Sea and two in open spaces.

One rocket hit in Aqaba on a main street in front of the Intercontinental Hotel, killing a taxi driver, Jordanian Information Minister Ali Ayed said. Four other Jordanians were injured, Ayed said.

Meanwhile, Israel agreed Monday to participate in a UN investigation of its deadly raid in the spring on a Gaza-bound flotilla, a shift from its earlier refusal to cooperate with any external inquiry.

Israel expressed confidence the inquiry would find its actions justified, but its decision to cooperate reflects the hit Israel's world standing has taken following the assault and the spotlight it turned on its three-year blockade of already impoverished Gaza. The May 31 confrontation ended in the deaths of nine Turkish activists, including one with U.S. citizenship, after being shot by Israeli commandos boarding their ship.

The four-member UN panel will include a Turkish and an Israeli representative, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said. It will start work Aug. 10 and submit its first progress report by mid-September.