The military wing of the Palestinian Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) claimed responsibility on Thursday for launching a new mode of home-made rockets into southern Israel.

"Our fighters have fired the new Nasser-4 rocket at Ashkelon city in southern Israel," al-Nasser Saladin Brigades said in a statement faxed to the media.

The statement said the group vowed to continue "developing weapons" despite the Israel-Palestinian ceasefire deal in Gaza Strip and its militants beefed up rocket-firings into the Jewish state in response to Israeli raids in West Bank.

On Wednesday night, Israeli forces arrested 12 Hamas members in the West Bank city of Nablus, Palestinian security sources said.

The detentions took place after the Israeli army rolled into Nablus and conducted house-searches.

Source: Xinhua