Palestinian group attempts to fire rockets from Jenin area at nearby settlement

Military says projectiles aimed at Shaked ‘did not pose threat to residents’; incident comes a day after remains of rocket found in town bordering West Bank barrier

Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent

A screenshot from a video published on July 10, 2023, shows a rocket that a Palestinian group calling itself the Al-Ayyash Batallion claimed to have fired from Jenin at the northern West Bank settlement of Shaked. (Twitter. Used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
A screenshot from a video published on July 10, 2023, shows a rocket that a Palestinian group calling itself the Al-Ayyash Batallion claimed to have fired from Jenin at the northern West Bank settlement of Shaked. (Twitter. Used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

Palestinians in the northern West Bank attempted to launch two homemade rockets at a nearby Israeli settlement on Monday, the latest in a series of mostly unsuccessful attempts, the military said.

A group calling itself the Al-Ayyash Battalion, apparently named for a notorious Hamas bombmaker killed by Israel, claimed it had launched two rockets from the Jenin area at the northern West Bank settlement of Shaked.

Video published by the group on Telegram showed a projectile mounted on a launcher. The footage did not show it being launched. Al-Ayyash Battalion has claimed to have launched several rockets at settlements and towns in northern Israel in recent months, publishing footage of the attempts.

Several hours after the claim on Monday, the Israel Defense Forces said troops located two rocket launchers and two makeshift projectiles in the area.

The IDF said sappers were at the scene investigating the rockets “to examine the presence of explosives.” The remains and the launchers were being taken for investigation.

“The rockets did not pose a threat to the residents” of Shaked, the IDF said.

Al-Ayyash Battalion’s rocket launching attempts have largely failed, with the rockets containing no explosives and flying distances of less than 100 meters (328 feet), according to the IDF.

Security forces found the remains of a rocket in the northern Israel town of Ram-On, which borders the West Bank security barrier, on Sunday night, indicating however that terrorists in the northern West Bank possess the capability to launch rockets at further distances than initially assessed.

The exact date of that launch was unclear.

The remains of a rocket fired from the West Bank, found in the northern Israeli town of Ram-On, July 9, 2023. (Courtesy)

Military sources have said there was a known suspect behind the attempts, and it was not linked to any known terror group, despite the apparent affiliation with Hamas.

During a major IDF raid in the West Bank city of Jenin last week, the military said troops located and seized a makeshift rocket, among other weapons.

In May, Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar said security forces had foiled attempts by Palestinians in the northern West Bank to manufacture rockets to be launched at Israel.

Bar said the efforts were led by a senior Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader who was killed by Israel in the Gaza Strip during a five-day flareup in violence last month.

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