Palestinian Man And 2 Child Shot Dead In West Bank Jenin

DOCUMENTATION/North Gaza Conditions Due To Israeli/WFP/Ali Jadallah Attacks

JAKARTA - A Palestinian man and his son died in Jenin, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank allegedly linked to a dispute with security officers.

In a separate incident, a security force officer was killed, who Palestinian Authority (PA) officials said was an "accident". The total number of security forces killed in operations in Jenin began on December 5 was six.

PA denied its troops killed a 44-year-old man and his son, who were shot when they stood on the roof of a house in Jenin's refugee camp. The man's daughter was also injured in the incident.

As reported by Reuters on Saturday, January 4, at least eight Palestinians have been killed in Jenin over the past month, one of whom is an armed Jenin Brigade member, which includes armed wing members of Hamas factions, Islamic Jihad and Fatah.

Palestinian security forces moved to Jenin last month in an operation that officials say aims to pressure armed groups "criminals" who have built a power base in the city and nearby refugee camps.

The operation has deepened divisions among Palestinians in the West Bank, where the Palestinian Authority has little support from the people but many fear being dragged into a conflict like Gaza and Israel if militant groups strengthen their power.

Jenin, in the northern West Bank, has been the center of Palestinian militant groups for decades and armed factions have repeatedly rejected Israel's military efforts to expel them for years.

The PA, which was formed three decades ago under Oslo's temporary peace agreement, exercised limited sovereignty in parts of the West Bank and claimed to play a role in regulating Gaza after fighting in the enclave was over.

PA is dominated by Fatah factions led by President Mahmoud Abbas and has a tenuous relationship with Hamas, who was involved in a civil war in Gaza in 2006 before Hamas kicked him out of the area.