Tánaiste Michael Martin’s State convoy was halted and forced to take shelter when air raid sirens went off during a visit to Israel, reports Independent.
Mr Martin did not have to leave his car when the sirens went off and his vehicle was powered up.
However, his team, which was travelling in an accompanying bus, had to abandon the vehicle and enter a nearby bunker as per local protocol.
The delegation included Sonia McGuinness, Ireland’s ambassador to Israel, Mr Martin’s political staff and Foreign Office officials, reports Independent.
Alarm sirens went off as Martin travelled from southern Israel to Jerusalem as part of a state visit to the country.
Shortly after the alarm sounded, the group returned to the bus and resumed their journey to Jerusalem before heading to Ramallah in the West Bank.
“There was a battlefield in the middle of Sderot. Just thinking about it is crazy. People here were witnessing a battlefield. We had bodies all over. The death toll was 45 people and when you think about it, a city that suffered 70 active shooters that’s not bad, but it is awful,” Ms Shumel said, reports Independent.
“We had a minibus with 13 people, some of them were Holocaust survivors who decided to go and spend the day at the Dead Sea and they stopped in the road because they had a flat tyre. They had a flat tyre. The driver was working on it,” she added, reports Independent.