Mohammed Samer Mahmoud Jaber (1998 – 29 August 2024), better known by his ''

nom de guerre A ''nom de guerre'' (, 'war name') is a pseudonym chosen by someone to use when they are involved in a particular activity, especially fighting in a war. In Ancien régime, ''ancien régime'' Kingdom of France, France it would be adopted by each n ...

'' Abu Shujaa, was a Palestinian militant. A popular and well-known figure among Palestinians, he led the

Tulkarm Brigade The Tulkarm Brigade or Tulkarm Battalion () is a Palestinian militias in the West Bank, Palestinian militant group in the West Bank which is affiliated with various Palestinian political factions. The Tulkarm Brigade appeared first in March 20 ...

militant group from April 2022 until he was killed on 29 August 2024 in a raid during the

2024 Israeli military operation in the West Bank On 28 August 2024, Israel launched a large-scale military operation in the West Bank, occupied West Bank. It was Israel's largest military operation in the West Bank in more than 20 years since its Operation Defensive Shield in 2002, and marked ...

Biography

Jaber was born in

Nur Shams Nur Shams () is a Palestinian refugee camp in the Tulkarm Governorate in the northwestern West Bank, located east of Tulkarm. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, Nur Shams had a population of 6,479 inhabitants in 2007 and ...

Tulkarm Governorate The Tulkarm Governorate () is an administrative district and one of the 16 Governorates of Palestine, located in the north-western West Bank. The governorate's land area is 268 square kilometres. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau o ...

, in 1998. His family was originally from

Haifa Haifa ( ; , ; ) is the List of cities in Israel, third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropolitan area i ...

but was displaced during the

1948 Palestine war The 1948 Palestine war was fought in the territory of what had been, at the start of the war, British-ruled Mandatory Palestine. During the war, the British withdrew from Palestine, Zionist forces conquered territory and established the Stat ...

. He began his participation in anti-Israel militant activities at an early age and was arrested multiple times by both Israel and the

Palestinian Authority The Palestinian Authority (PA), officially known as the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), is the Fatah-controlled government body that exercises partial civil control over the Palestinian enclaves in the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, ...

. In 2022, he co-founded the

alongside its first leader, Saif Abu Labdeh and assumed command after Labdeh was killed on 2 April 2022. Under Jaber's leadership, membership in the Brigade significantly increased. Previously aligned personally with

Fatah Fatah ( ; ), formally the Palestinian National Liberation Movement (), is a Palestinian nationalist and Arab socialist political party. It is the largest faction of the confederated multi-party Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and ...

, he joined

Palestinian Islamic Jihad The Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine (, ''Harakat al-Jihād al-Islāmi fi Filastīn''), commonly known simply as Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), is a Palestinian Islamist paramilitary organization formed in 1981. PIJ formed as an offsh ...

after the start of the

Gaza war The Gaza war is an armed conflict in the Gaza Strip and southern Israel fought since 7 October 2023. A part of the unresolved Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Israeli–Palestinian and Gaza–Israel conflict, Gaza–Israel conflicts dating ...

in October 2023. A key figure wanted by the Israeli authorities, Jaber participated in planning and executing multiple attacks against Israeli targets, including a June 2024 shooting that killed an Israeli civilian in

Qalqilya Qalqilya or Qalqiliya () is a city in the West Bank, Palestine, which serves as the administrative center of the Qalqilya Governorate. The city had a population of 51,683 in 2017. Qalqilya is surrounded by the Israeli West Bank barrier, Israeli We ...

. He was injured by Israeli raids into

Tulkarm Tulkarm or Tulkarem (, ''Ṭūlkarm'') is a Palestinians, Palestinian city in the West Bank, the capital of the Tulkarm Governorate of the State of Palestine. The Israeli city of Netanya is to the west, and the Palestinian territories, Palestinia ...

in December 2023, and was thought to have been killed by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) during a April 2024 raid into Tulkarm in April 2024, but later surfaced attending a funeral for multiple Palestinian fighters. The

26 July 2024 Tulkarm confrontations The July 2024 West Bank unrest refers to a period of instability in the West Bank lasting from late July to early August of 2024. This marked a significant escalation of violence between the Palestinian Authority and Palestinian militants amid ...

were sparked after the security forces of the Palestinian Authority attempted to arrest Jaber while he was hospitalized after being injured by an explosive device. Local crowds of Palestinians intervened and forced the security forces to withdraw. On 29 August 2024, the

YAMAM Yamam (), also known as National Counter-Terrorism Unit, is Israel's national counter-terrorism unit, one of four special units of the Israel Border Police. The Yamam is capable of both hostage-rescue operations and offensive take-over raids ag ...

(Israel's National Counter-Terror Unit) killed Jaber and four other militants during fighting inside and around a

mosque A mosque ( ), also called a masjid ( ), is a place of worship for Muslims. The term usually refers to a covered building, but can be any place where Salah, Islamic prayers are performed; such as an outdoor courtyard. Originally, mosques were si ...

in Tulkarm, part of the ongoing large-scale Israeli military operation in the northern

West Bank The West Bank is located on the western bank of the Jordan River and is the larger of the two Palestinian territories (the other being the Gaza Strip) that make up the State of Palestine. A landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

. The military operation, which began a day before, was an escalation of the

Israeli incursions in the West Bank during the Gaza war During the Gaza war, Israeli forces have carried out multiple ground incursions, occasionally accompanied by airstrikes, into several Palestinian cities and refugee camps in the Israeli-occupied territories, Israeli-occupied West Bank, includi ...

. Palestinian Islamic Jihad and

Hamas The Islamic Resistance Movement, abbreviated Hamas (the Arabic acronym from ), is a Palestinian nationalist Sunni Islam, Sunni Islamism, Islamist political organisation with a military wing, the Qassam Brigades. It has Gaza Strip under Hama ...

offered condolences for Jaber's death.

References

Notes

Citations

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abu Shujaa 1998 births 2024 deaths 21st-century Palestinian people Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine members Deaths by firearm in the West Bank People killed by Israeli security forces People murdered in Palestine Military personnel killed in the Israel–Hamas war Palestinian militants People from Tulkarm Governorate

Biography

See also

References

Notes

Citations