Hamas Slams PA for ‘Serious Crime’ After Children Killed in West Bank Operation

IQNA – A 16-year-old boy and his three-year-old sister were killed late Sunday when Palestinian Authority (PA) security forces opened fire on the family vehicle carrying their father in the town of Tamoun, the West Bank.

The three-year-old daughter of Samer Samara, a resistance fighter, succumbed to her wounds on Sunday after being shot by the forces, Palestinian media outlets reported.

Her 16-year-old brother, Ali, was killed after being shot in the head. Their father was wounded and later abducted by PA forces.

According to the reports, the forces shot Samara in the legs before abducting him.

Local reports said units from the PA’s so-called Preventive Security Service and a special unit set up the ambush and fired heavy gunfire at the car during an operation to abduct Samara, who is wanted by Israeli occupation forces.

Following the killings, the youths of the town of Tamoun launched a demonstration and a general strike. Reports said the PA sent reinforcements to suppress the demonstration.

The Gaza Strip’s Hamas resistance movement condemned the atrocities, holding the Authority fully responsible for the consequences of targeting resistance fighters and killing children.

In a statement, the group described what happened as a “serious crime” and a “black mark in the record of the security services that continue to overpower our people instead of protecting them.”

The movement warned that the policy could damage Palestinian internal cohesion and demanded accountability.

It called for “holding all those involved accountable, stopping the pursuit of wanted Palestinians, and releasing political detainees.”

The Committee of Families of Political Prisoners also condemned the shooting, describing it as the result of a “systematic policy targeting resistance fighters.”

It said the incident represented a “dangerous deviation” that placed security services in confrontation with the population rather than protecting them.

Human rights organizations say such incidents risk deepening internal tensions at a time when Palestinians in the West Bank also face ongoing Israeli military raids and settler violence, contributing to what observers describe as a climate of compounded insecurity for civilians.

Source: Press TV