Palestinian militants attempted to fire a rocket towards an Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, the latest in a string of failed launch attempts recently, according to Israeli and Palestinian sources.
An Israeli military spokesperson said in a statement that “a failed rocket launch attempt was carried out” in the area of Jenin in the northern West Bank. Soldiers located the improvised rocket and remnants of the launcher.
“Explosive Ordnance Disposal personnel are at the scene to examine the presence of explosives,” the spokesperson noted, adding that the remnants would be transferred to security forces for further analysis. Israeli troops were also searching for suspects involved in the failed launch attempt, according to the statement.
Al-Ayyash Battalion, a militant group affiliated with the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), released a statement claiming that the rocket had targeted the settlement of Shaked to the west of Jenin city.
While Gaza Strip’s Hamas rulers and other militant groups in the coastal enclave have launched numerous rocket attacks on Israel, but attempts to launch rockets from the West Bank have been rare up to this point.
Earlier on Tuesday, Israeli troops shot and killed two Palestinians, including a 16-year-old boy, during a raid on the Aqabat Jabar refugee camp in the southern occupied West Bank.
Violence between Israelis and Palestinians in the West Bank, a territory captured by Israel during the 1967 Middle East war, has been on the rise in the past 16 months, fueled by frequent deadly Israeli raids.