Tulkarm Brigade commander killed in fierce clashes with Israeli forces in refugee camp

The commander of a Palestinian resistance group affiliated with Saraya al-Quds, the military wing of the Gaza-based Islamic Jihad movement, has been killed in a heavy exchange of fire with the Israeli regime’s forces in the occupied West Bank.

Palestinian media reports said on Thursday that Muhammad Samer Jaber, the commander of the Tulkarm Brigade, and four other resistance fighters had been killed during the occupation’s aggression on the Nour Shams refugee camp in the east of the occupied West Bank city of Tulkarm.

Reports said Jaber, known by his nom de guerre Abu Shujaa, was killed around 4:00 a.m. when the Israeli occupation army surrounded a building in the Tulkarm camp, where he and several other Palestinian fighters were located.

Following fierce clashes, Abu Shujaa and four others were killed by a missile while the Israeli occupation army captured another Palestinian fighter in the building.

The Israeli military said one of its soldiers was injured during the confrontation at the Nour Shams refugee camp.

The 26-year-old leader of the Tulkarm Brigade had for years been the target of assassination by the Israeli occupation.

The Israeli military invaded the Tulkarm refugee camp in April and carried out one of its deadliest offensives in years, which resulted in the killing of 14 Palestinians and the wounding of many more.

At the time, after rumors spread that Abu Shujaa was killed, the young man appeared at the mass funeral of his colleagues, brandishing his automatic rifle and delivering an emotive speech about the continuation of the resistance.

Israel had been seeking to arrest him or kill him ever since, especially as the Tulkarm Brigade has emerged as one of the strongest of the fighting groups that are resisting the Israeli occupation of the West Bank.

Violence by settlers and raids by Israeli forces have surged across the occupied West Bank since Israel launched its barbaric military campaign in the besieged Gaza Strip in October last year.

According to medical sources, the aggression has so far resulted in the killing of 18 citizens in Jenin, Tulkarm, and Tubas, while more than 30 others were injured, bringing the death toll since October 7, 2023 to 667.

Israeli raids risk worsening ‘catastrophic’ West Bank situation: UN

The UN says many Palestinians including children have been killed while posing no imminent threat.

Gaza-based resistance groups commend Abu Shujaa

The Islamic Jihad movement said in a statement that Abu Shujaa was one of the founders of the Tulkarem Brigade and praised the “heroic confrontation” of the commander and his companions with the occupation soldiers.

“Our Palestinian people knew the leader Abu Shujaa for his steadfastness and courage, a fighter who decided to confront the occupation bravely with his brothers, to lift the injustice imposed on their people, realizing that confronting the enemy, whatever the price, is much easier than living under a criminal occupation that kills children, violates sanctities, humiliates dignity, executes people in the streets, confiscates property, plans day and night to steal land and displace its people, arrests children, besieges hospitals, commits massacres and wages a war of genocide,” the statement said.

Stressing that Abu Shujaa’s martyrdom “increases our people's steadfastness, resilience, and determination,” the Islamic Jihad said, “The enemy is trying in vain to eradicate our resistance in the West Bank, and we will thwart all its attempts.”

The statement added, “The martyrdom of a leader will be succeeded by a thousand leaders... and victory belongs to our people and our resistance.”

The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas also mourned the assassination of Abu Shujaa and his comrades, saying, “We affirm that the continuation of the occupation's aggression on the West Bank will not break our people and resistance.”

“We emphasize that the crimes of the occupation will ignite the ground with flames under the feet of its terrified army and settler gangs, and will erupt the volcano of anger simmering in the West Bank due to the ongoing practices and arrogance of the occupation,” Hamas said.

“We call upon our heroic people in the West Bank for greater unity and cohesion with the resistance, intensification of the popular momentum and field confrontation with the occupation and its settlers until the aggression is repelled, the occupation is expelled, and we attain our freedom and legitimate rights,” the group added.

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