Hamas-affiliated battalion fires rocket toward Israeli settlement near Jenin

A battalion affiliated with the Palestinian Hamas resistance movement says it has fired a rocket toward an Israeli settlement in the vicinity of the northern occupied West Bank city of Jenin.

In a statement released on Thursday, the al-Ayyash battalion, which is affiliated with the Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, said it had targeted the Ram-On settlement with a Qassam-1 rocket.

It said that the operation was in response to Israeli crimes, including raids by settlers on the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in the Old City of al-Quds.

“Al-Aqsa Mosque is a red line and we will never allow the Zionists to violate it,” it added.

Israeli settler incursions into al-Aqsa Mosque and violence against Palestinians have been on the rise since the far-right extremist cabinet of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took office last December.

Earlier on Thursday, hundreds of Israeli settlers, including far-right security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, broke into al-Aqsa Mosque from the Mughrabi gate.

The settlers were escorted by occupation troops, who prevented Muslim worshipers from entering the holy site.