Security officials said Thursday that a crude rocket discovered earlier this week in the northern West Bank was likely planted as bait to lure troops into an ambush, not intended as a functional weapon.
The rusted projectile, found on Tuesday during the Jewish New Year in an open area near the city of Tulkarm, contained only a motor and no warhead. Military officials now believe terrorists deliberately placed it to draw soldiers to the site, where they could have been attacked.
1 View gallery
Mock rocket found by Israeli security forces near Tulkarm earlier this week
(Photo: IDF)
The device’s design resembled a homemade rocket fired last week from the village of Ni’ma near Ramallah. That projectile flew about two kilometers before crashing inside the Palestinian village of Beit Ur al-Tahta, near Israel’s Highway 443.
The Tulkarm incident followed the arrest of a terrorist cell in the Ramallah area accused of manufacturing and launching improvised rockets. Members of the group led troops to additional devices in their possession.
Central Command, which oversees West Bank operations, called the discovery troubling and said it was diverting resources to disrupt networks experimenting with rockets and other explosives. Command chief Maj. Gen. Avi Blot ordered intensified efforts against weapons production.
The military assessment came amid a series of raids across the West Bank. Overnight, Israeli special forces killed two Palestinian Islamic Jihad gunmen during a firefight in the town of Tamun near Jenin. The men, identified as Ala Qawdat Bani Odeh and Muhammad Qassem Suleiman, had barricaded themselves in a building and were accused of planning an imminent attack.
Raid on West Bank rocket cell
(Israel Police)
During the holiday week, Israeli troops also killed a terrorist in the village of Anza who tried to hurl an explosive device, while other units conducted ambushes to prevent fence sabotage and infiltration attempts near the Jerusalem, Ephraim and Menashe sectors.
The emerging rocket incidents, though crude and limited, have raised concerns that terrorists in the West Bank are seeking to mimic tactics long used in the Gaza Strip.