Palestinian Hamas terrorists opened fire toward the Shahak Industrial Park near the community of Shaked in northern Samaria on Sunday, according to the Hatzalah Judea and Samaria rescue group.
No casualties were reported in the attack on the industrial zone, which is located some five miles west of Jenin, a hotbed of Palestinian terrorism.
Hamas’s Al-Qassam Brigades “military” wing took responsibility for the shooting attack in a statement cited by Qatar’s Al Jazeera, saying its operatives “targeted the Shaked settlement in the northern West Bank with appropriate automatic weapons and withdrew safely.”
In September, Israeli authorities filed an indictment against a member of a terror squad based in Jenin who planned to infiltrate Israeli civilian communities in Samaria and carry out an Oct. 7, 2023-style massacre.
The indictment accused Osama Bani Fadl and other terrorist operatives of making serious preparations for a mass slaughter targeting Jewish residents of Samaria, including by infiltrating towns with vehicles.
The Israel Defense Forces over the summer carried out a large-scale counter-terrorism operation targeting the Jenin area, involving hundreds of troops and air support, in light of a recent uptick in terrorist attacks.
In the first six months of 2024, Judea and Samaria saw more than 500 Arab terrorist attacks each month on average, according to data made public by Hatzalah Judea and Samaria (Rescuers Without Borders).
During that period, first responders recorded 3,272 acts of terrorism in the region, including 1,868 cases of rock-throwing, 456 attacks with Molotov cocktails, 299 explosive charges and 109 shootings.
Terrorists murdered 14 people and wounded more than 155 others in Judea and Samaria between January and July, the rescue group said.