JERUSALEM/RAMALLAH, Sept. 10 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian militants from the West Bank city of Jenin fired a rocket toward a nearby Israeli settlement on Sunday, but the projectile fell short of reaching Israel, according to the Israeli military.
Claiming the attack, Palestinian armed group Ayyash Brigades said in a statement that the attack was "a response to the ongoing crimes and violations committed by the Israeli enemy."
The group, affiliated with Hamas' Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades military wing and located in the flashpoint city of Jenin in the northern West Bank, released video footage showing it prepared to launch a small rocket at the Ram On settlement in the Gilboa Regional Council in northern Israel.
However, according to the Israeli military, the "failed rocket launch attempt" did not reach any Israeli community.
The military said in a statement that an inspection of remnants of the launch collected by the Palestinian Authority shows that the group used an "improvised launcher" near Silat al-Harithiya, a town 10 km northwest of Jenin.
No injuries were reported on both sides.
Head of the Gilboa Regional Council Oved Noor said in a statement that the incident was the latest in "repeated" attempts by Palestinians in the West Bank to fire rockets at northern Israel over the past year.
He urged the military to deploy Iron Dome batteries in the Gilboa region to protect against occasional rockets from the Gaza Strip, a coastal Palestinian enclave.
The West Bank has witnessed escalating tensions between Palestinians and Israel over the last 18 months amid long-stalled peace talks. ■
