Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was rushed off stage during a rocket siren after vowing to annex part of the occupied West Bank if he is re-elected.
The Prime Minister was on stage at an election rally in Israel's southern city of Ashdod on Tuesday when sirens sounded, warning of a rocket attack from Gaza.
"Exit quietly," Netanyahu told the crowd before his security detail hustled him away, footage from the event showed. Channel 13 television, which also broadcast the incident, said he was taken to a sheltered area.
Mr Netanyahu was unhurt and he resumed his speech on stage several minutes later.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.
During the speech, which was broadcast live on Israeli TV channels and social media, Mr Netanyahu said if he won the election he would "apply Israeli sovereignty to the Jordan Valley and the northern Dead Sea".
While reaffirming his pledge to annex all Jewish settlements throughout the West Bank, he said such a move would not be made before publication of a long-awaited US peace plan and consultations with President Donald Trump.
There was no immediate comment from Washington.
Mr Netanyahu is fighting for his political life in a closely contested election which will take place next Tuesday.
Tuesday's incident in Ashdod has added fuel to accusations from his political opponents that he has not done enough to stop frequent cross-border rocket strikes against southern Israel.
Benny Gantz, a former Israeli armed forces chief and head of the centrist Blue and White party that is Likud's strongest challenger, seized on the rocket strike to attack his opponent.
"Big words are replaced with zero action," Gantz said in a statement, pledging that if he becomes prime minister he will "not tolerate even one rocket".
Rocket attacks from Gaza rarely cause casualties and Israel usually responds with air strikes against positions controlled by Hamas, the Islamist movement that is the dominant armed force in the territory of two million Palestinians.
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Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh, in a statement issued shortly before Netanyahu spoke, amid reports of a possible annexation announcement, said that the Israeli leader is "a prime destroyer of the peace process".
The Jordan Valley, which Palestinians seek for the eastern perimeter of a state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, stretches from the Dead Sea in the south to the Israeli city of Beit Shean in the north.
Israel captured the West Bank in a 1967 war.
The 2,400 square kilometre (926.65 square mile) valley accounts for nearly 30 per cent of the territory in the West Bank.
Israel has long said it intends to maintain military control there under any peace agreement with the Palestinians.
