Nablus

- In the wake of a massacre that it had not witnessed before, the Palestinian Jericho, in the central West Bank, woke up to the crime of assassinating 5 Palestinian youths, and seriously wounding two, after the Israeli occupation stormed the Aqabat Jaber camp, south of the city, at dawn today, Monday.

Shortly after four o'clock in the morning, forces from the occupation army and its special units, especially the Lionesses of the Jordan Valley, surrounded a brick building (caravan) in which the resistance fighters were barricaded, whom the occupation accuses of being behind the shooting attack on a settlers' restaurant at the Almog junction between Jericho and the Dead Sea 10 days ago.

The data indicates that the occupation forces received information about the location of the resistance fighters in the building next to one of the residential villas on the outskirts of the camp, so the elements of these forces surrounded the house and fired intensively, and when one of the resistance fighters alerted, he clashed with them, and he was wounded, according to the occupation claim, in the military uniform of one of the soldiers.

As soon as the massacre took place, information began to circulate about the targeted young men, and the Israeli secrecy remained at the forefront of the scene for about 3 hours about the nature of the operation and the targeted persons. And 27 years old) and their cousin Adham Majdi Awadat (22 years old), Malik Awni Lafi (22 years old) and Thaer Awadat (28 years old).

Clashes between resistance fighters and the occupation forces in Jericho a few days ago (Reuters)

Who are these resistors?

Publicly, the occupation army confirmed that the resistance fighters Malik and Raafat Awadat were behind the "Almog operation" and reinforced this with a picture of them taken by a public street camera, and that they are all brothers and relatives from the same family and camp and they formed a "resistance cell" to be known later as the "camp battalion". Aqabat Jabr" in preparation for carrying out other commando operations.

To a modest family, Ibrahim and Raafat were born among 6 siblings (4 of them males and 2 girls) inside Aqabat Jabr camp, and their father works in the private trade between vehicles and livestock.

In the agency’s schools, they received their basic and secondary education, then finished their university education, and made their way to a job that would enable them to be independent, marry, and build a family, which they preferred to struggle for, as it appears, and with a civil job, Ibrahim worked, while Raafat joined the tourism sector in a hotel.

As for Malik (the second main suspect in carrying out the operation), he was born to simple parents (his father is old and sick) out of 3 children (2 boys and one girl). The occupation arrested one of his brothers, Moaz, to pressure him to surrender as part of the campaign of arrests launched by the occupation against dozens from the camp. They include members of the same family.

Malik did not finish his secondary education, and moved directly to the labor market to support his family, so he worked as a private vehicle driver.

The occupation authorities have not previously arrested any of the targeted young men, however, Malik and Raafat were summoned and pursued by the Palestinian security services.

Israeli forces stormed Aqabat Jabr camp in Jericho (communication sites)

They choose their own path

In the voice of the grieving and sad father, Wael Awadat spoke to Al-Jazeera Net over the phone about Ibrahim and Raafat after he described them as "like roses" and said that the last time he saw them 10 days ago, that is, since the date of the operation, without knowing what happened and how.

He added, "This is one of God's blessings upon us, and that this path is only taken by adults who present their blood as a bill for it." He added that they, as a family, and like the rest of the citizens in the camp, were subjected to "terrorism and collective punishment" by the occupation army, when it stormed their house twice during the siege, searched it, and tampered with its contents and destroyed it.

As for Ibrahim and Raafat's mother, she said that she saw them after the last raid and greeted them and told her that this was their path, and how they confronted the occupation army and "daunted its soldiers."

And the five martyrs, in addition to being young men in their prime, formed a resistance cell. There is a strong kinship and friendship that binds them, which made them "loved in the camp" and they were known for their "good manners."

The assassination of the young men came 10 days after the siege of Ariha and the Aqabat Jabr camp (11,000 people) in particular, where the occupation completely paralyzed the city and its institutions, and stormed the camp more than once and caused destruction, especially the last raid two days ago, through which it failed to arrest the resistance fighters.

Jericho, on the border with Jordan, is known for its calmness from the rest of the West Bank cities (Al-Jazeera)

brutally filter

After the Israeli army withdrew from the camp, the resistance fighters (Brigade of Aqabat Jaber Camp) appeared in their military uniforms and equipment, which angered the occupation. Today, according to Khaled Brahma, a political activist in Jericho, the occupation "liquidated them in cold blood after arresting them, as it is likely."

The activist added to Al-Jazeera Net that the assassination bore a camouflage character, as the occupation stormed the camp from more than one axis, and launched arrest operations among the citizens, including Sheikh Shaker Amara, the leader of the Hamas movement, and attacked at the same time and with other forces the young resistance fighters, "and the brutality of the assassination appeared in the intensity of the bullets fired by the occupation and stains The blood that flooded the place.

Regarding his reading of this "rapid assassination," the Palestinian activist says that the occupation was keen to end the phenomenon as soon as possible so that it would not move to other nearby cities and regions, especially in Jericho, which is known for its calmness, although it is a natural extension of the state of resistance in the West Bank.

Regarding the reaction of the people in Ariha and the Aqaba Jabr camp, Brahma said that they all feel a state of pride, especially the young men, explaining that these resistance fighters, despite the 10-day siege the camp and the city experienced, formed a "unique and rare" state of pride among the people who embraced and intensified Pray for them, and even Jericho enjoyed a media status that you had not experienced before as a city that resists.

The activist did not hide that these resistance fighters planted the "seed of struggle" and that others may continue their path, citing the intense anger that emerged among the youth of the camp after the martyrdom of the resistance fighters.

Martyrs of Aqabat Al-Jabr camp in Jericho at dawn today.


Raafat Awadat


Adham Awadat


Ibrahim Awadat


Thaer Awadat


Malik Lafi pic.twitter.com/5giJxbBMRG

- Shejaeya (@shejae3a) February 6, 2023

outbreak phenomenon

As for Ismat Mansour, an analyst of Israeli affairs, he indicated that the occupation's "acceleration" of targeting "the resistance fighters in Aqabat Jabr camp and those affiliated with Hamas, as appeared in their armed parade, sends a message that it will not allow these manifestations to spread, and will eradicate them before they leave an incubator and an environment for them, as is the case in Jenin and Nablus."

That is why the political analyst says to Al-Jazeera Net: The occupation carried out its operation today in a lightning, painful and brutal manner, even its results.

"He could have arrested them, but he chose to liquidate them and kidnap their bodies," he added.

What sparked the occupation and accelerated its movement - in Mansour's opinion - was the resistance cell declaring itself a battalion or armed formation, which reflected a challenge that had a moral, psychological and media effect on the Palestinian and Israeli public, meaning "the spread of resistance, its multiplicity of foci and its expansion."

The analyst of the Israeli issue concluded that Jericho is a border city close to Jerusalem and a sensitive security center for the occupation, and most importantly, it did not witness such manifestations, which made the occupation move before the idea expanded and spread.

Hundreds of supporters of the families of the martyrs flocked to the Aqabat Jabr camp to the "House of Solidarity", which was established in the center of the camp.