The northern entrance to the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain al-Hilweh, near Saida, South Lebanon, Aug. 2, 2023. (Credit: Muntasser Abdallah/File photo)
BEIRUT — Two people, including a young boy, were wounded in the Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp on Friday morning by stray bullets from a personal dispute ahead of a planned deployment of joint Palestinian forces, camp sources told L'Orient Today.
The joint Palestinian force is due to deploy Friday in front of schools of schools run by UNRWA, the UN's Palestinian refugee agency, and organize the withdrawal of the fighters entrenched there.
The child, who was wounded in his arm, and the man, wounded in his back, were both reportedly hospitalized.
The commander of the Joint Palestinian Force, Mohammad Ajoury, told L'Orient Today's correspondent in Saida that the two suspected gunmen had been arrested by Fatah. The shootings were provoked by a personal dispute in the camp's central vegetable market, "which has no connection with the deployment of the joint force," he added. "The situation in the camp is calm and stable, " Ajoury said.
Deployment of the joint force on Friday is aimed at restoring stability to the camp after two waves of deadly clashes in recent weeks that have left at least 30 people dead, including civilians. The latest fighting, between Sept. 7 and 14, pitted the Fatah movement of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas against Islamist groups such as Jund al-Sham and al-Shabab al-Muslim.
Reporting contributed by Muntasser Abdallah