NEW DELHI, Aug 21: A mysterious delegation of Indian Muslims, invited on a rare visit to Israel, was apparently attacked with rockets by the Hamas group in the Gaza Strip, Press Trust of India said on Tuesday.

Sirens warning of an impending rocket attack went off when the Indian delegation was visiting the southern Israeli city of Sederot. The visit was a hush-hush affair till the attack happened.

“We heard a warning shot which was followed by a siren. We were immediately rushed to take shelter behind the mountains where we heard the sound of another rocket attack which hit the city,” Maulana Umair Ilyasi, leader of the delegation, told PTI after the attack took place on Monday.

The delegation is visiting Israel on the invitation of the American Jewish Committee (AJC) and the Australian Israel Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAFC).

The AJC and the AIJAC had arranged a trip for the visiting Indian delegation to the southern city of Sederot, which is just 800 metres away from the Gaza border.

“We were just watching the Gaza Strip from the top of a mountain when the rockets were fired from the Hamas-controlled territory,” Ilyasi, General Secretary of the All India Organisation of Imams of Mosques, said.