Shatha al-Sabbagh was a passionate and ambitious young woman with a deep love for journalism, her mother recalls.Warning: This story contains distressing details.
Shortly before New Year’s Eve, 21-year-old Shatha al-Sabbagh went to a shop in Jenin, in the occupied West Bank, to buy chocolate for the children in her family.
Shatha, a "fearless" journalism student committed to highlighting the struggles of Palestinians, was accompanied by her mother, two young nephews, and another relative.
"She was laughing and saying we’d be up all night tonight," her mother remembers.
Moments later, Shatha was shot in the head.
For Shatha’s mother, Umm al-Motassem, the grief remains overwhelming. She pauses, struggling to continue.
"Shatha’s eyes were wide open, as if she were looking right at me, lying on her back with blood pouring from her head.
"I began screaming, 'Stop shooting! My daughter is dead. My daughter is dead.'"
The gunfire persisted for approximately 10 minutes. Shatha succumbed to her injuries, dying in a pool of her own blood.
Her family holds the Palestinian Authority (PA) security forces entirely responsible, arguing that their neighborhood is firmly under PA control.
"It couldn’t have been anyone other than the PA," her mother told the BBC. "They dominate this area so completely that no one else could possibly enter or leave."
The PA, however, attributes the violence to "outlaws" — their term for fighters from groups such as the Jenin Battalion, which includes members of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and Hamas.
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