There was a technical malfunction in Israel’s ‘Iron Dome’ system

Speaking to AA, an Israeli military official said the air defense system, called Iron Dome, “failed, but was later repaired” during rocket fire from blockaded Gaza into Israel on May 2-3.

“Preliminary investigation by the Air Force, which runs Iron Dome, revealed a technical problem during the rocket barrage that began at noon on Tuesday,” the military official said. saying.

“The problem was resolved immediately and did not happen again overnight. Iron Dome’s block rate appears to be 90.5 percent.” The official, who spoke, did not elaborate on the nature of the technical problem.

WHAT HAPPENED?

Although Israel boasted that the Iron Dome air defense system was the “most effective” system for intercepting short- and medium-range missiles, recent developments had cast doubt on the system’s effectiveness.

After the death of Palestinian prisoner Hıdır Adnan, who has been on hunger strike for 87 days in an Israeli prison, dozens of rockets were fired from the blockaded Gaza Strip in the direction of Israel.

In a written statement by the Israeli army on May 3, it was stated that a total of 104 rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip into Israel in two days (May 2 and 3), 22 of which were blocked, 11 of them towards the sea, 14 to the borders of the Gaza Strip, 48 of them were recorded to have fallen in open ground in Israel. It was not specified where the remaining 9 rockets landed.

Three foreign workers, one of them seriously, were injured when some of the rockets hit near the Israeli town of Sderot, on the Gaza border.

Iron Dome’s low effectiveness in blocking rockets fired from the Gaza Strip was reflected in the Israeli press, noting that it was ineffective against rockets.