He was martyred during the clash... Ahmed Daraghmeh, commander and founder of the Tubas Battalion

The body of Ahmed Daraghmeh surrounded by his relatives in the Turkish hospital in the city of Tubas (French)

Tubas

- In a clash described as violent, the young Palestinian Ahmed Daraghmeh was martyred during the Israeli occupation army’s storming of the city of Tubas in the northern West Bank at dawn on Tuesday, while the two young men, Muhammad Bayadsa and Osama Abu Zalat, were martyred in another and simultaneous incursion into the Al-Far’a camp adjacent to the city on its southern side.

According to a brief statement from the Palestinian Ministry of Health that reached Al Jazeera Net, Daraghmeh (25 years old) was wounded with 3 bullets in the chest, neck and head, while the martyr Bayadsa (32 years old) was hit by a bullet directly in the head, and Abu Zalat (31 years old) was wounded by bullets in the chest.

In an expanded military operation by the Israeli occupation army that began shortly before midnight last night and continued until four in the morning, large forces from the occupation army penetrated Tubas Governorate, accompanied by huge military bulldozers, in an attempt to arrest or liquidate wanted persons, as they have done and in an increasing manner for at least the last two years.

Hossam Daraghmeh, Director of the Municipality of Tubas, told Al Jazeera Net that the occupation army stormed Tubas from 3 axes, through the Tayasir checkpoint in the north, the Hamra checkpoint in the south, and from the Buqi’a area in the east, where these forces, armed with all types of weapons, initially penetrated into Al-Far’a camp and began bulldozing its streets and infrastructure.

During this, the occupation forces clashed with the resistance fighters, which led to the martyrdom of the two young men, Muhammad Bayadsa and Osama Abu Zalat, after they were sniped inside their homes. Three others were also wounded by occupation bullets.

Meanwhile, during its operation in Al-Far'a camp, the occupation forces and their special units stormed the city of Tubas at approximately three o'clock in the morning, and clashes took place, described as violent, between the resistance fighters and the occupation soldiers in the Old Market area, which led to the martyrdom of the young man, Ahmed Daraghmeh.

The two young men, Muhammad Bayadsa and Osama Abu Zalat, were martyred during the occupation’s storming of Al-Far’a camp, south of Tubas (Al-Jazeera)

"The Founder and the Fierce"

After Ahmed's martyrdom, his companions and the youth of the city carried him on their shoulders and carried him around in a huge march, which included intense gunfire in the air, chants for the martyr, and calls for revenge and revenge for him. Then the martyr was transferred to the Turkish government hospital in the city.

According to the director of the Tubas municipality, Hossam Daraghmeh, what happened reflects the criminality of the occupation and its extreme right-wing government and the arrogance of its army, which used to storm Palestinian villages, cities and camps to kill resistance fighters. He added, “These young men who belong to the National and Islamic Action factions rise every time to defend their country and their safe homes.”

He added, "The resistance fighters in Tubas are revolutionary, good-natured young men with a good reputation who took the path of defending their homeland and their people, and thus they became pursued by the occupation, which always storms the city under this pretext."

The martyr, Ahmed Jamal Salim Daraghmeh (25 years old), received his basic and secondary education in Tubas schools, where he completed high school and did not continue his university studies. He joined self-employment with his brother, and he is the middle of 7 brothers (4 females and 3 males).

The occupation had previously arrested the martyr Ahmed, nicknamed “Al-Jogul,” about 3 years ago for a short period. He was released after days of interrogation, while his two older brothers, Kamal, and the younger, Muhammad, were arrested for several months.

With his good manners and cheerful face, in addition to his religious commitment, Ahmed was known as a “joking and optimistic” young man, as his friends described him.

As the confrontation with the occupation intensified in the camps and areas of the northern governorates, especially the camps of Jenin, Nour Shams, Tulkarm, and Balata in Nablus, Ahmed decided to form what is known as the “Tubas Brigade” and begin confronting the occupation.

Certificate and nothing else

It was not long before the Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad Movement, announced the launch of the “Tubas Brigade” in mid-July of last year, until the resistance factions, especially the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), became involved in the same path and began targeting the occupation.

Ahmed and his comrades who resisted the occupation participated in confronting all of its incursions, to the point that the occupation made him a target for all of its incursions into Tubas Governorate, which led to the martyrdom of 24 citizens during 2023, according to the Shirin Abu Aqla Documentary Observatory.

About two years ago, with the founding of the Tubas Brigade, the occupation began to persecute and persecute Ahmed, and he refused under any circumstances to surrender himself. He said that prison was not his place, and that his fate was either “martyrdom or remaining pursued and clashing with the occupation,” says his relative, Ahmed Mahasneh.

He added to Al Jazeera Net that Ahmed was “optimistic” despite his prior knowledge of his fate, and that he “kept resistance and martyrdom in mind just as the occupation puts it at the top of its goals, as he survived many assassination attempts and arrests.”

Mahasneh describes the martyr Ahmed as a “fierce and stubborn” resistor and that he refused to surrender under any circumstances. He confirms that he took the path of resistance and refused to return from it except as a martyr.

He is also modest in his resistance and keeps a low profile to the point where he was careful not to meet much with his family during the period of his persecution, and that, as his relative says, they only saw him during raids and clashes with the occupation.

This is why Mahasneh adds, “It was like the occupation soldiers attacked Ahmed during their storming of Tubas, because they knew that he would come out and clash with them, and that was the case, so they came to him from behind.”

A resistance fighter participates in the funeral of martyrs in Al-Faraa camp, south of Tubas (Al-Jazeera)

Farewell the brave

Ahmed, “the brave,” as his father Jamal describes him in his interview with Al Jazeera Net, was loved in Tubas, which knew him for his resistance and defense of it. His father adds that his last moments with him were yesterday evening, before his martyrdom, when he came to take his winter coat and did not speak to them much because he was in a hurry. We bid him farewell with the looks that were our last words toward him,” his father added.

Ahmed was not just a resistor, but rather a resistor with the leader’s ideology, and his actions indicated that. In a statement he published on his page, in mid-November, he called on the people of his city, Tubas, to donate to the resistance through funds placed in the city’s mosques.

He says in his statement, which was obtained by Al Jazeera Net, "These funds are in the name of the resistance in our governorate, and have no connection to any organization, and we are a group of young people who have sincerely intended to support the religion of God and uphold the word 'There is no god but God.'"

Source: Al Jazeera