Palestinian Fighters In West Bank Attempted To Launch Rocket At Nearby Settlement (Video)

On August 15, a shadowy Palestinian armed group calling itself the al-Ayyash Battalion announced that it had launched a rocket from an area near the Jenin refugee camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank at the nearby settlement of Shaked.

Video footage published by the group on its official Telegram channel showed a primitive rocket mounted on a launcher. The clip did not show the launch, however.

Israeli troops reached the scene and discovered that the rocket was still on the launcher after it exploded and failed to take off. In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said sappers were inspecting the remains of the rocket, which would be later handed over to the Shin Bet security agency for further investigation.

The IDF released photos showing the rocket and its launcher heavily damaged and the ground underneath charred.

This was not the first recent attempt by Palestinian fighters to launch rockets from the West Bank. The al-Ayyash Battalion made several attempts to launch rockets at nearby Israeli settlements in recent months.

According to the IDF, the group’s attempts largely failed, with the rockets containing no explosives and flying mostly distances of less than 100 meters.

The group is apparently named after Yahya Ayyash, a famous bombmaker of the Hamas Movement who was assassinated by Israeli intelligence in the 1990s. However, there is no evidence indicating that the group is affiliated with Hamas.

Palestinian fighters in the West Bank have been developing their capabilities and tactics for a while now in response to repeated Israeli operations in occupied territory.

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