JERUSALEM: Israel’s air force scrambled fighter jets over the northern city of Haifa on Tuesday after several foreign warplanes approached the Jewish state’s air space, media reports said.
The Israeli jets returned to base after determining that the foreign aircraft, which apparently approached the Israel coast from the Mediterranean, were not hostile, Channel Two reported.
The report did not say which country the jets were from and it was not clear what they were doing near Israeli airspace.
The Israeli military confirmed the incident, but provided no details except that it ended quickly.
“They came back almost immediately after being scrambled once the identity [of the foreign aircraft] was established,” an army spokesman said.
The incident occurred as Israelis celebrated the Jewish festival of Passover. Israel’s military is sensitive to attack on festivals, since a surprise offensive launched by Syria and Egypt on the Yom Kippur holy day in the 1973 Middle East war.
