JERUSALEM – Palestinian terror groups told WorldNetDaily today they carried out another rocket attack from northern Samaria, the second time in two days they attempted to target Jewish communities in the territory.
Security officials say the missile attack opens a whole new front of rocket targets against Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, and against neighboring cities, including Jerusalem.
The attacks come at a time Israel has been plagued with rocket onslaughts on the other side of the country, with missiles being launched daily by Palestinian terrorists in Gaza aimed at bordering Jewish areas.
Ten months after Israel evacuated Gaza, the Israeli Defense Forces launched a ground operation there two weeks ago aimed in part at halting the Qassam fire.
Abu Oudai, chief rocket coordinator for the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, called WND today to take credit for a Qassam rocket he said his group fired from Jenin, a Palestinian city in northern Samaria. He said the rocket fell short and landed in Palestinian territory.
He said the attack was carried out by both the Al Aqsa Brigades and Islamic Jihad, and that the two terror groups would soon form a joint committee for the regular launching of rockets from northern Samaria.
Abu Oudai said the rocket infrastructure in Jenin seeks to place the entire lower Galilee region of Israel under the regular threat of rockets.
In an exclusive WND interview, Abu Oudai announced the beginning of the regular firing of Palestinian rockets from Judea and Samaria “just like we fire them from Gaza.”
Since Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip last August, over 1000 rockets have been fired into nearby Jewish communities. The Israeli town of Sderot, home to the country’s defense minister, Amir Peretz, has been hit with an average of over a dozen rockets per week the past few months.
Last week a Palestinian rocket traveled the furthest of any previous projectile ever fired from Gaza, hitting Ashkelon, a town of 120,000 residents that is home to Israel’s main electric supply station and critical gas and oil pipelines.
A spokesman for the Israeli Defense Forces said the army was investigating today’s claimed rocket attack from Jenin. She said an extensive search of Jewish areas near Jenin did not turn up any rocket fragments. But Al Aqsa said today’s fired rocket failed to reach a Jewish community.
Palestinian security officials said they can confirm to WND a rocket was indeed fired today.
As first reported by the Galil Report, a new WND e-mail intelligence newsletter, leaders of the Al Aqsa Martrys Brigades, said they fired three Qassam rockets this weekend from the north Samaria town of Tulkarem toward Kibbutz Avnei Heifetz, a small Jewish community about 6 miles from the coastal city of Netanya. Netanya is about 19 miles from Tel Aviv.
The weekend rocket attack has not yet been officially confirmed by the IDF, but security officials speaking anonymously say there is information the missiles were launched.
Senior Palestinian security officials say they handed rocket fragments from this weekend’s attack to IDF representatives for analysis.
Al Aqsa has previously claimed to WorldNetDaily they launched several rockets in Samaria.
The IDF has the past several months denied the claimed rockets attacks only to later release select information stating some rockets had indeed been fired from northern Samaria.
Security analysts maintain publicity about terror groups’ current missile capabilities in the territories could generate criticism of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s plan to withdraw from most of Judea and Samaria, which is within rocket firing range of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Israel’s international airport.
Now you can get all this and more sent directly to your e-mail regularly throughout the week FREE, just by being a subscriber to Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin, the premium, online intelligence newsletter published by the founder of WND. Beginning today, G2 Bulletin will be offering a new feature called “The Galil Report,” an intelligence e-mail newsletter edited by WND’s Jerusalem bureau chief Aaron Klein. The only way to get it is to become a subscriber to Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.
Christians and Jews unite in common cause
Definitive work on Mideast – available only here!
Previous stories:
The 2 things Trump can do to make himself the GOAT president
Wayne Allyn Root