Abu Shuja… the story of the martyr who was declared twice killed by the occupation

The Israeli occupation announced the killing of five Palestinian resistance fighters, including the commander of the Tulkarm Battalion, nicknamed “Abu Shuja”, as forces continued their assault on the towns of Jenin and Tulkarm for a second consecutive day in a military operation. Described as the largest since 2002.

Muhammad Jaber, known as “Abu Shuja”, is the commander of the Tulkam Brigade of Al-Quds Brigade, one of the founders of the Islamic Jihad movement, and the occupation forces tried to kill him once, when the Palestinian Authority wanted to arrest him.

Abu Souza was born in 1998 in Nur Shams camp in Tulkarm Governorate.

Abu Souza was unable to finish his studies due to difficult circumstances, and was arrested early in his life when he was 17. An Israeli described him as the most wanted man in the West Bank and “a person who is destabilizing the northern West Bank.”

After that, he was arrested twice, during which he spent almost 5 years in an occupied prison in addition to being arrested in a Palestinian Authority prison.

Abu Souza contributed greatly to the establishment of the Tulkam Battalion in March 2022, with its first commander, Saif Abu Lebda, and a group of youths, and then took over its leadership after Abu Lebdeh’s martyrdom on April 2 of the same year. .

After Muhammad Jaber assumed command of the battalion, it expanded and many young resistance fighters joined its ranks, and its membership was estimated at around 40 individuals in September 2022.

“The Living Martyr”
Abu Souza made an extraordinary appearance last April at a funeral for the martyrs of the Noor Shams camp east of the northwestern West Bank town of Tulkarm, days after his killing was announced in a massive Israeli attack on the camp.

A video clip of the “living martyr” was circulated, as he walked surrounded by gunmen during the funeral, which proved that he was alive, contrary to what was reported about his martyrdom, and that the occupation had kept his body with other martyrs. of the camp

During the operation, which lasted more than 50 hours in Tulkarm and Nur Shams camps, 14 Palestinians were martyred and their exact identities were not known until after the occupation was lifted.

As civilians and ambulances entered and surrounded the camp’s destroyed lanes and the bodies of the martyrs were recovered, nothing was issued confirming whether Abu Souza’s body was among them, while video clips of resistance battalion members confirmed that their leader had not been martyred, and They have his evidence, which was confirmed by the video clip that my voice was attributed to a young man in his twenties, where he said that he was alive and that they were ready to face the occupation. and his soldiers.
Between the announcement of his martyrdom and his subsequent denial, the information circulated about his survival remained pure suspicion, especially since the occupation did not deny or confirm any information about him until after the end of the occupation.
Abu Souza then appeared, carrying armed resistance fighters on his shoulders and walking among the citizens, and into their ranks, to bid farewell to his martyred comrades, carrying a rifle and firing into the air as a salute and challenge to them. Israeli occupation.

“I have sacrificed my soul for God that there is no God but God. What is taken by force can be restored by force.”

chase power
Last July, citizens managed to evacuate the commander of the Tulkarm Battalion from the hospital, when he arrived with injured hands, when the Palestinian Authority tried to arrest him from there.

At that time, clashes broke out between citizens and Palestinian Authority agencies after the Tulkarm battalion commander arrived at the hospital with injuries to his hand as a result of a homemade bomb explosion, local sources said.

The security services arrived after the injured Abu Souza arrived at the hospital, and surrounded him, while the Tulkaram Battalion Commander called for a general gathering at Noor Shams and Tulkaram camps to avoid arrest, and indeed people flocked. in the hospital

What did he say about Gaza?

Many social media users have circulated posts on the Facebook platform for an account named Abu Souza Jaber, where they talk about the massacre in the Gaza Strip: “I don’t think my heart will ever recover and I will continue to feel neglected. For the rest of my life, although I couldn’t and didn’t do anything, but whenever I see the sacrifices of others and what happened to them, I can’t take it away. My persecution, losing my home, my distance from my family, losing my brother Mahmoud and many people close to me, going through things, a child who lost his mother, or a father who lost his child, or a prisoner who spent decades in his cell. will cut and be deprived thereof.

The post also said, “But I console myself with the fact that God has given me a purpose, and I have not chosen to retreat, but I have chosen to continue with determination, and yet, I am still among you, and I am this Consoling ourselves with the truth that our duty, if we survive this war, is to do duty and be a strength to those around us … and to be loyal to those who have sacrificed and donated.. it is a covenant on our necks , and I pray God to enable us to fulfill it.”

One last meeting
Samer Jaber Abu Uday (father of Martyr Abu Souza) never received a call informing him of his son’s martyrdom, but a photo released by the Israeli army confirmed what he feared during his two-year pursuit.

Five days ago, the last meeting between Abu Uday and his martyred son was as quick as usual, where he reassured his father about his health, asked for news of the family and reassured his mother, but in the final hours that followed the declaration of occupation. The father’s concern for his son increased during the military campaign at Tulkarm.

According to Al Jazeera, Samer spoke of last night during which he could not sleep for a moment and kept watching for something new with the expansion of the operation and the storm at the Tulkam camp near Noor Shams, then his news. The news of his son’s martyrdom came through the Israeli media.

Samer then began flipping through the pages of the Hebrew media and its various websites to verify the news and found that it was filled with pictures of his son, expressing “high joy and pride” at his killing and assuring the Israeli public that the news was true and as before. No. He said, “Even army commanders and their spokesmen, especially Avichai Adrei, expressed joy at the killing of Abu Suja.”

The martyr’s family had previously experienced this moment on April 19, when the occupiers declared him dead after more than 10 hours of clashes in a 24-hour military operation, his lie revealed as Abu Shuja announced that his occupation was again challenged.

Praise be to God, Abu Uday received his son’s martyrdom and praised his life and legacy, which “shaken the stability of the Zionist enemy, as the founder of the Tulqam Brigades attached to the Al-Quds Brigades in the Noor Shams camp, and the national resistance situation in Tulkarm,” he emphasized. He added, “It is enough for Abu Souza that he reached a point where his presence created a powerful opponent for the occupation and his reputation became widespread and his name was repeated locally and internationally as an icon and symbol of the Palestinian revolution. “

Public Consensus
Abu Uday was not worried after his son’s martyrdom and said that he left a clear impact and path for everyone behind him and that his martyrdom “will leave a void without a doubt, but it will not stop the resistance it carries. Out by his spirit and determination. comes and so this situation will continue to bear fruit.”

The Abu Uday family lost their son Mahmoud as a martyr a few months ago, while the occupation forced their disappearance from prison, they continue to suffer as their home has been raided, destroyed and bombed several times. Arrest and detain their children under harsh conditions. “All this is dear to them,” added the father, “but Abu Suja’s choice of resistance from the beginning relieves them of their grief, and if he spends 200 years in it, we and every free and honorable man in the world.” Will still be proud of him.”

Abu Suja’s killing comes at a time when the Noor Shams camp has carried out massive infiltrations, raiding homes, forcing some families to leave and arresting youths and turning them into field investigation centers.

Muhannad Jaber, a resident of the camp, told Al Jazeera Net: “Abu Shuja is a great leader we consider the head of the West Bank Battalion and the news of his killing is very painful for the camp and a great loss for Tulkarm as a whole.” Ali al-Ali spoke about the qualities of the martyr and said , “He refused to cover his face and he regarded Shahid as a target and he was a great fighter and a great sniper.”

Abu Souza enjoys wide public approval, and many young people consider him a role model and a different case of a persecuted resistance fighter. During the persecution, he was able to gain people’s acceptance, love and support. This was to protect him from attempts by Palestinian security to arrest him, the last of which was to block him in “Thabet Thabet Hospital”, so the mothers of the camp’s martyrs went to break the siege on him and resist the security. Palestinian police arrested him.

The killing of Abu Suja did not only affect the people of Tulkarem Governorate, as the incident gained widespread interaction between different groups of Palestinian people in the West Bank cities. The National and Islamic Action Groups of Tulkaram – through loudspeakers – mourned the martyrs of Noor Shams camp and Tulkaram and announced mourning and general strike across the governorate.

alias Abu Shuja Muhammad Jaber (26 years old), one of the main commanders of the Tulkam Brigades, the military wing of the Al-Quds Brigades, affiliated with the Islamic Jihad movement. Shahid took part in actions against the Israeli occupation when he was still young and was arrested in an Israeli prison at the age of 17.

He was then arrested twice more, during which he spent almost 5 years in prison. Under his leadership, the battalion expanded and included more resistant youth in its ranks, until its membership was estimated in September 2022 to be around 40 armed men.