Abu Shujaa: West Bank’s Most Wanted Militant Killed in Israeli Operation

Executive Summary:

• The most wanted militant in the West Bank, Mohammed Jaber, better known as “Abu Shujaa,” was eliminated on August 29, 2024.
• Jaber’s Tulkarm brigade, which had previously proved to be a headache for the Israel Defense Forces in the city of Tulkarm in the West Bank, have been significantly degraded following Jaber’s death, though other figures are expected to fill the vacuum.

The most wanted militant in the West Bank, 25-year-old Mohammed Jaber, better known as “Abu Shujaa,” was eliminated on August 29, 2024. Jaber met his end at the end of an 18-hour siege by the Shin Bet’s Yamam counter-terrorist unit, which surrounded a mosque in Nur Shams outside his hometown of Tulkarm. In addition to Jaber, the operation killed three other militants (i24 News, August 29, 2024).

In the months before his death, the noose around Jaber and his 50-fighter Tulkarm brigade had tightened significantly. Jaber’s brother was killed in December 2023 in Nur Shams. In April 2024, Jaber himself was reportedly killed in an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) operation that killed at least five (Al Jazeera, April 19, 2024). Jaber’s death, which was even reported by Palestinian media, would have left his militant group leaderless (X/@ItayBlumental, April 21, 2024).

It came as some surprise, then, when Jaber surfaced at the funeral of his fighters who were killed in the raid. At the event, Jaber defiantly declared that the “resistance” against Israel would continue. According to Jaber, several Israeli soldiers were also killed during the Tulkarm raid (The New Arab, April 22, 2024). Surrounded by his guards, Jaber predicted that the fighting with Israel “will not end until we claim victory.”

Jaber gave an interview before his death with the Hezbollah-affiliated al-Mayadeen media wing. In it, Jaber acknowledged that even though the IDF would eventually assassinate him, “generations will come after me and continue the path of Abu Shujaa” (X/@SuppressedNws, August 29, 2024). The isolated nature of the Tulkarm Brigade in the West Bank makes it unlikely Jaber ever received significant—much less substantial—funding or resourcing from Iran or, more specifically, Hezbollah. Nevertheless, Jaber clearly saw his fight as aligned with these groups, likely a precondition for being interviewed by al-Mayadeen. Jaber’s fealty to Iran was also demonstrated by his quoting of Ayatollah Khomeini on social media (X/@Bloomingrana, May 24, 2024). This reflects that Jaber was generally non-sectarian in his approach and sought a unified anti-Israel front.

Jaber’s prediction came true in the aforementioned late August 2024 IDF operation, which ended when Israeli forces fired a missile at the house where he and several other militants were hiding (The Palestine Chronicle, August 29, 2024). The weeks following Jaber’s death saw increased pressure on the Tulkarm Brigade by the IDF, including an airstrike on a suspected brigade hideout by an F-16 that killed 18 (Al Jazeera, October 18, 2024). While the Tulkarm Brigade failed to avenge his death in the immediate aftermath, it is likely that another leader will take Jaber’s place and assume the mantle of the “resistance” in Tulkarm, as he foresaw.