The Palestinian Authority’s security forces claimed “outlaws” killed 22-year-old Palestinian journalism student Shatha al-Sabbagh, denying Sabbagh’s family’s accusations against the security forces, according to multiple Sunday media reports.
Ynet reported that Sabbagh was killed in Jenin, where deadly clashes have broken out between Palestinian Authority forces and Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist groups in recent weeks.
The family claimed the young student was killed by the security forces’ sniper while she traveled with her mother and two children, according to the Associated Press. The family also denied there were terrorists in the area at the time she was killed.
The security forces denied the killing, claiming “outlaws” had fired the deadly shot. They condemned the shooting and promised to investigate.
Anwar Rajab, the official spokesperson for PA security forces, condemned the killing as “a heinous crime committed by lawless individuals who fired indiscriminately, resulting in Shatha’s death and damage to a nearby house.”
In a statement, the Sabbagh family accused the Palestinian security 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.”
“We see this as a premeditated crime,” the family said in a statement. “This dangerous escalation reveals the transformation of the PA security apparatus into an oppressive force that terrorizes its own people instead of protecting their dignity.”
Hamas’s claims
Hamas also blamed the Palestinian Authority for her death. “This heinous crime led to her death,” the Hamas statement read. “We reiterate our demand for the Palestinian Authority to cease attacks on our people in the camp, to embrace national initiatives to avoid further clashes, and to prevent the spilling of Palestinian blood.”
Sabbagh’s brother Moatasem Sabbagh was a member of Hamas’s Jenin brigade and was eliminated by PA forces, Hamas announced Sunday.
“The PA security forces killed the sister of our martyred Qassami fighter, Moatasem, in cold blood,” the Hamas statement read. “This criminal act is yet another addition to a dark record of actions against our people, including killings, arrests and torture.”
Hamas terrorist Mahmoud Mardawi also condemned on Monday the alleged arrests of students from a university in Hebron – decrying the actions as “unpatriotic and irresponsible behavior through which it seeks to divide the Palestinian ranks and consolidate the policy of repression it uses against the people of the West Bank.”
Mardawi accused the Palestinian Authority of “storming the student housing, assaulting them and abusing them.”
Following the reports, Hamas insisted on “the need for the West Bank’s activists, factions, and living forces to take a serious position towards what the PA and its security services are committing.”
West Bank clashes
Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas terrorists have been battling Palestinian Authority forces in the West Bank city of Jenin in the latest escalation between the Palestinian factions.
PIJ demanded on Saturday that the PA end its campaign, claiming it “serves the Zionist occupation that incites strife, aiming to portray our Palestinian people as being in a state of internal fighting.”
“We demand that the Palestinian Authority immediately stop its security and media campaigns, lift the siege on Jenin camp, end the persecution of resistance fighters, and stop the abuse of citizens,” the statement read.
A Palestinian Security Services officer was killed in the West Bank city of Jenin amid clashes between Palestinian Authority forces and terrorists, Arab media reported on Thursday evening, citing PSS Spokesperson Anwar Rajab. Two weeks ago, a PIJ commander was also killed as the terror group attempted to prevent the PA forces from entering the refugee camp.
Earlier this month, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists reportedly drove through Jenin in vehicles they stole from the PA’s security service. The terrorists reportedly stole the vehicles after the PA arrested several of the group’s members.
JERUSALEM POST STAFF contributed to this report.
