# 26 July 2024 Tulkarm confrontations

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On 26 July 2024, the security forces of the Palestinian Authority encircled the Martyr Dr. Thabet Thabet Governmental Hospital in Tulkarm, West Bank, allegedly attempting to arrest Abu Shujaa, the leader of the Tulkarm Brigade who was hospitalized inside. Clashes between the security forces and West Bank militias broke out in Tulkarm as a crowd of Palestinian civilians arrived at the hospital aiming to break the alleged siege, marking a significant escalation of the typically more muted conflict between the Palestinian Authority and local militant groups. The confrontations, which sparked further unrest across the West Bank, took place amidst the backdrop of the ongoing Israel-Hamas war and its spillover into the region.

## Background

The Tulkarm Brigade is one of the many armed Palestinian militant groups present in the West Bank. Jaber, whose nom de guerre is "Abu Shujaa", is a key figure wanted by the Israeli authorities and had been injured by previous Israeli raids on Tulkarm in December 2023. He was thought to have been killed by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) during one of their raids into Tulkarm in April 2024, but later surfaced attending a funeral for multiple slain Palestinian fighters.

## Course of the confrontations

On 26 July, Abu Shujaa was hospitalized at the Martyr Dr. Thabet Thabet Governmental Hospital in Tulkarm after being injured by an explosive device.
Palestinian Authority security forces arrived at the hospital and encircled it after learning of Abu Shujaa's hospitalization, leading to armed clashes between the Tulkarm Brigade and the security forces in the area. The Brigade and other Palestinian militias declared a state of high alert, and targeted the local headquarters of the security forces with heavy gunfire.
The Tulkarm Brigade, together with Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, issued statements calling for the local population to mobilize and head to the hospital to lift the siege and prevent the arrest of Abu Shujaa. A large crowd of Palestinian civilians arrived at the hospital in response, determined to obstruct the arrest operation. The Palestine Chronicle published a video from inside the hospital showing protestors confronting security forces, which reportedly deployed tear gas and fired on them, resulting in several wounded.
Ultimately, the security forces withdrew from the hospital, and the crowd retrieved Abu Shujaa and escorted him to the Nour Shams refugee camp in Tulkarm.

## Reactions

Mustafa Taqataqa, the governor of Tulkarm Governorate, alleged that the security forces intervened only after "a group of individuals" attempted to storm the hospital, and called for all health institutions to be kept out of conflicts.
A contradictory statement was released by Fatah, the Palestinian political party which controls the Authority, claiming that security forces entered the hospital to protect, not arrest, Abu Shujaa after learning of IDF activity at the entrances to Tulkarm, and that the crowd that arrived at the hospital was misguided by "inflammatory rumors".
Both Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad condemned the actions of the security forces, with the latter warning that it threatened the recent unity agreements of the 2024 Beijing Declaration.
The Jenin Brigades issued a statement threatening the security forces, stating "if anyone attacks us, we will attack them in kind". The Brigades also claimed that the security forces had previously attempted a similar siege on a hospital in Jenin during which they assaulted mothers of slain Palestinian fighters.