Warning: This story contains disturbing details.
Just before the New Year, 21-year-old Shatha al-Sabbagh was out buying chocolate for her family’s children at a store in Jenin, in the occupied West Bank.
The “fearless” journalism student – who wanted to shed light on the suffering of Palestinians – was with her mother, two young nephews and another cousin.
“She was laughing and saying that we would be up all night tonight,” her mother recalls.
Then she was shot in the head.
For Shatha’s mother, Umm al-Motassem, the pain is still strong. He pauses to take a breath.
“Shatha’s eyes were wide open. It looked like she was staring at me as she lay on her back with blood gushing from her head.
“I started screaming, ‘Stop shooting! My daughter is dead. My daughter is dead.'”
But the shooting lasted about 10 minutes. Shatha died in a pool of her own blood.
Shatha’s family holds Palestinian Authority (PA) security forces fully responsible for her murder, saying their area is under PA control.
“It couldn’t have been anyone else but the PA… because they are such a big presence in our neighborhood – no one else could have come or gone,” she told the BBC.
But the PA blames “renegades” – a term they use for members of the Jenin Battalion, made up of fighters from armed groups including Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and Hamas.
The PA has limited self-government in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Last month, it launched a major security operation in the Jenin refugee camp targeting armed groups there, which they see as a challenge to their rule. Almost four weeks later, it continues.
The Jenin battalion was accused of blowing up cars in the camp and carrying out other “illegal actions”.
“We seized a large number of weapons and explosive materials,” says PA Brigadier General Anwar Rajab.
“The goal is to clear the camp of explosive devices that have been placed in different streets and alleys… These outlaws have crossed all red lines and spread chaos.”
Gen Rajab also accuses Iran of supporting and financing armed groups in the camp.
Jena’s battalion denies any ties to Iran. In a recent video posted on social media, spokesman Nour al-Bitar said the PA was trying to “demonize” them and “tarnish their image,” adding that the fighters would not surrender their weapons.
“So to President Mahmoud Abbas, why did this happen?” he asked, holding shrapnel from what he claimed was a rocket-propelled grenade fired at the camp by security forces.
The PA, led by President Abbas, was already unpopular among Palestinians unhappy with its rejection of armed struggle and its security coordination with Israel.
This anger intensified with the PA’s crackdown on armed groups in the camp, which was unprecedented in its ferocity and duration.
Israel sees these groups as terrorists, but many residents of Jenin consider them a form of resistance to the occupation.
“These ‘outlaws’ the PA is referring to – these are the young men who come to our protection when the Israeli army invades our camp,” says Umm al-Motassem.
At least 14 people were killed in the crackdown, including a 14-year-old, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
Now, many Jenin residents say they fear the PA as much as they fear Israeli military attacks. The death of Shath al-Sabbagh only renewed their contempt.
Before she was killed, Shatha shared several posts on social media showing the destruction in the PA operation in Jenin – as well as Israeli attacks on the camp last year.
Other posts showed images of armed youths who had been killed in the fighting, including her brother.
Hamas condemned her murder, identifying her brother as the slain member of the group’s armed wing, the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades.
The group described her “cold-blooded murder” as part of an “oppressive policy aimed at the Jenin camp, which has become a symbol of steadfastness and resistance.”
Mustafa Barghouti, who heads the Palestinian National Initiative political party, sees the fighting in Jenin as the result of divisions between the main Palestinian factions – Fatah, which makes up the majority of the PA, and Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007.
“The last thing Palestinians need is to see Palestinians shooting at each other while Israel crushes everything,” he says.
Inside the camp, residents say daily life has come to a standstill.
Water and electricity supplies have been cut off, and families are suffering from food shortages, bitterly cold weather and relentless armed fighting.
Locals who spoke to us asked for their names to be changed, saying they feared retaliation from the PA.
“Things are terrible here. We can’t move freely in the camp,” says Mohamed.
“All bakeries, restaurants and shops are closed. The restaurant where I work opens for one day and closes for 10. When it’s open, no one comes.
“We need milk for the children, we need bread. Some people can’t open their doors because of the constant gunfire.”
The UN’s humanitarian agency, OCHA, has called for an investigation into what it describes as human rights abuses by PA forces.
Gen Rajab said that some of the “outlaws” who “hijacked” the Jenin camp have been arrested and others with pending cases will be brought to justice.
But Mohamed describes the PA operation – with innocent people caught in the crossfire – as “collective punishment”.
“If they want to go after the outlaws, that doesn’t mean they should punish the whole camp. We want our lives back.”
Even going out to get food or water is a risk, says 20-year-old Sadaf.
“When we leave, let’s say the last prayers. Let’s mentally prepare that we might not come back.
“It’s very cold. We took the door off our home to use as firewood just to keep warm.”
The BBC heard similar statements from four camp residents.
My conversation with Sadaf is interrupted by the sound of gunfire. It is unclear where he is from and who is shooting. It starts and stops several times.
“Maybe warning shots,” she suggests, adding that this sometimes happens when PA forces change shifts.
Sadaf goes on to describe the camp, with “garbage filling the streets and almost entering the houses”. More gunfire is heard.
Sadaf’s mother joins the call. “Listen to this… Can anyone sleep with this sound in the background?
“Now we are sleeping in shifts. We are so afraid that they might invade our homes. We are as afraid of this operation as when the Israeli soldiers are here.”
People say security forces deliberately hit power grids and generators, leaving the camp without power.
The PA again blames “outlaws” – and insists it brought in workers to fix the network.
The armed groups want to “take advantage of people’s suffering to put pressure on the PA to stop the operation,” says General Rajab. He says the security operation will continue until its goals are achieved.
Gen Rajab says the PA’s aim is to establish control over the Jenin camp and ensure security and stability.
He believes that taking control of the armed groups would give Israel an excuse to attack the camp.
At the end of August, The Israeli army carried out a major nine-day “counter-terrorist” operation in the city of Jenin and the campwhich resulted in great destruction.
At least 36 Palestinians were killed – 21 from Jenin province – according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
Analysts say the PA is trying to reassert its authority in the West Bank and show the US that it is capable of taking a role in the future governance of Gaza.
“What would be wrong with that?” says Gen Rajab.
“Gaza is part of the Palestinian state. Gaza and the West Bank are not separate entities. There is no Palestinian state without Gaza. President [Mahmoud Abbas] said that and that is our strategy.”
But Barghouti says this approach is “an illusion”. “All you need is to listen to what [Benjamin] Netanyahu says,” he adds.
According to the Israeli prime minister’s vision for post-war Gaza, Israel would control security indefinitely, and Palestinians with “no ties to groups hostile to Israel” – so that none of the existing major Palestinian political parties – would govern the territory.
But the US, Israel’s main ally, wants the PA to govern Gaza after the war. Netanyahu has previously rejected a post-war role for the PA with international support.
For the residents of the Jenin camp, there was no let-up in the violence and loss.
“PA says they are here for our safety. Where is the safety when my daughter was killed? Where is the safety with the non-stop shooting?” Umm al-Motassem is crying.
“I can go after the ‘outlaws’, but why did my daughter have to die? Justice will be served when I know who killed my daughter,” she says.
