Shatha al-Sabbagh, 22, was killed late on Saturday while she was with her mother and two children [Getty]
A Palestinian journalist was shot and killed in her home in the northern West Bank town of Jenin late Saturday, where Palestinian Authority (PA) security officers, backed by the Israeli military, continued their crackdown on Palestinian resistance fighters.
Shatha al-Sabbagh, 22, was killed by a sniper with the Palestinian security forces while she was with her mother and two small children, her family told The New Arab‘s Arabic language edition Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.
She added that there were no fighters in the area at the time.
Sabbagh’s brother-in-law, Suhaib al-Mura’i, said a sniper stationed inside a nearby house – which was seized by the PA forces and turned into a military post –Â had fired at her as she left his home with her two small children, her mother and sister.
“Shatha and her mother had been staying at my house because their home was heavily damaged during earlier clashes,” al-Mura’i said.
“She was carrying two young children, aged one-and-a-half and two years old, and was accompanied by her mother and sister. All of them were wearing prayer garments and were clearly visible to the sniper, who fired at them intentionally and without reason,” he added.
Al-Mura’i said that despite calls from neighbours and family members to stop shooting, the sniper continued firing, preventing anyone from getting close to Sabbagh after she was shot in the head.
He added that the area was fully under PA control and there were no clashes or other armed fighters nearby.
A statement from PA forces said Sabbagh was shot by “militants”, in reference to Palestinian fighters who had been battling Israeli occupying forces in recent years. The PA condemned the shooting and said it would “investigate” it.
In a statement, the al-Sabbagh family accused PA forces of having become “repressive tools that practice terrorism against their own people instead of protecting their dignity and standing up to the (Israeli) occupation”.
The statement highlighted that Sabbagh was killed in a well-lit area where there were no ongoing clashes.
“This crime highlights the dangerous deviation of the PA’s security forces, who now target their own people instead of resisting the occupation,” the statement said, urging local and international rights groups to investigate the killing and calling for action to protect Palestinians from the PA forces.
The killing of Sabbagh, the fifth civilian death in Jenin Camp since the PA’s military campaign began, has further deepened tensions and underscored the growing crisis within Palestinian governance and resistance movements.
Hamas condemned the killing, describing it as “deliberate” and “cold-blooded”. The statement said that Sabbagh was the sister of Hamas fighter Mutasim Sabbagh, who was killed earlier.
“This act is not an isolated incident but part of a systematic campaign targeting the Jenin Camp,” Hamas said, stressing the need to hold the PA accountable for its actions against Palestinians.
The Western-backed PA exercises limited self-rule in parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.Â
It is deeply unpopular among Palestinians , largely because it cooperates with Israel on security matters.
For the past 20 days, Palestinian fighters in Jenin have been locked in a rare open battle with the PA forces, arrested more than two dozen Palestinian fighters were arrested.
PA forces have taken control of approximately ten homes within the camp, converting them into military outposts and forcibly displacing their residents.
Snipers have also been stationed throughout the camp as part of the PA’s effort to establish control over the area, which is home to around 25,000 Palestinians originally displaced from their homes during the creation of Israel in 1948.
A Wall Street Journal report last week said that the PA, backed by the West, was attempting to demonstrate its ability to manage security in its limited areas of the West Bank as it aims to govern a postwar Gaza Strip.
