Jenin Terror Group Claims it Fired Two Rockets at Israeli Village

The Hamas-linked Al-Ayyash Battalion took responsibility for the alleged attacks.

By:  JNS

The Hamas-linked Al-Ayyash Battalion said on Monday it launched two rockets from the Jenin area towards the Jewish community of Shaked in northern Samaria.

There were no immediate reports of injuries.

The Israel Defense Forces subsequently located two rocket launchers and two makeshift projectiles near the village.

Sappers were deployed and the launchers were taken for investigation.

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

The Al-Ayyash Battalion previously said it fired several rockets at Israeli villages in the area over the past few months.

On Sunday, an “old improvised rocket” with “no explosives” was found in Moshav Ram-On, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

A security guard in the community, which is situated just within the 1949 Armistice Line and falls under the jurisdiction of the Gilboa Regional Council, located the remnants of the rocket in the moshav’s cemetery.

IDF sappers performed an initial investigation that determined that the rocket did not pose a danger.

Last month, the military said that a “lone wolf” was responsible for two rockets fired from Jenin.

The Al-Ayyash Battalion had shared a video claiming to show the rocket launches. However, the IDF said that there was no connection between the projectiles and an organized terrorist group, despite a report that Hamas’s “military wing” claimed responsibility for them.

Separately, on June 26 it was revealed that the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) had arrested a Palestinian Arab after finding a rocket in an open area in an eastern section of Jerusalem about a month earlier.

Abdel Alhakim Buatna, a resident of Ajjul, north of Ramallah, was arrested on suspicion of intending to fire the rocket at Israelis during this year’s Jerusalem Day flag parade in May.

Last Monday, the IDF launched a major counterterror operation in Jenin, including the entry into the Samaria city of significant ground forces. More than 1,000 IDF troops participated in the campaign, which is believed to be the largest deployment in Judea and Samaria in two decades.

Israeli troops arrested well over 100 terror suspects and, during nearly 48 hours of fighting, located and demolished at least eight weapon storage sites, six bomb-making labs, three “war rooms,” and other terror assets.

The IDF also carried out some 20 drone strikes against various targets.

In related news, TPS reported that Israeli authorities arrested an adult and two minors from the Nazareth area for planning to carry out terror attacks inspired by Hamas, police announced on Monday as indictments were filed.

Indictments were due to be filed on Monday in the Nazareth District Court.

An investigation by the Israeli Security Agency (Shin Bet) and the Israeli Police found that the three produced Molotov cocktails which they planned to throw at security forces.

The adult was identified as Mobin Ahmed Younes, a 19-year-old resident of Reina, an Arab village adjacent to Nazareth. The minors were only identified as from northern Israel.

The 19-year-old Younes frequented the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount during Ramadan and participated rallies while wearing the terror group’s flag. He was also filmed inside Al Aqsa expressing his identification with Hamas.

Tensions on the Temple Mount were high during the Islamic month of Ramadan, which overlapped with the weeklong Jewish Passover holiday. Palestinians barricaded inside the Al Aqsa Mosque were evacuated by Israeli police.

(JNS.org & TPS.com)