JERUSALEM: Palestinian militants renewed their efforts to fire a rocket at a Jewish settlement on Tuesday amid spiralling violence in the occupied West Bank.
A group called the Ayyash Battalion said its fighters “succeeded in striking the unlawful settlement Shaked, west of Jenin, with a Qassam rocket.” The attack was a “response to the enemy crimes against our people,” itsaid.
The Israeli military described the incident as a “failed rocket launch,” and said soldiers had located the improvised rocket and launcher remnants.
It was the fourth incident of rocket fire or an attempted launch in the northern West Bank since June 26. There have been no reports of related casualties.
Palestinian militant groups in the Gaza Strip are known to have large stockpiles of rockets, but their presence in the West Bank has been rare. Israeli forces have also been changing their approach in the West Bank, with drone strikes on Palestinian targets in recent months.
Israeli troops killed two Palestinians on Tuesday in the first deadly raid in the Jericho area for months. The Palestinian health ministry identified those killed as Qusay Omar Suleiman Al-Walaji, 17, and Mohammed Ribhi Njoom, 25.
Nasser Al-Anani, director of Jericho’s public hospital, said the two victims suffered “wounds right in the heart with explosive bullets.” Two other wounded people had been admitted to the hospital, he said.
Omar Al-Walaji, the father of the dead teenager, said his son used to ride his motorcycle to any clashes between Palestinians and Israeli forces. “He used to work with me at the greengrocer’s and he moved around a lot,” he said.
Ribhi Njoom, whose family lives in the Aqbat Jabr camp next to where the raid took place, said he did not know how his son came to be fatally shot. “Every time the occupation army enters the camp, young people gather and throw stones at the army,” he said.
