Image of the Ain al-Helweh camp, in September 2023. (Credit: Mohammad Yassine / L'Orient-Le Jour)
BEIRUT — A Palestinian security forces officer, Mohammad Fathi, was killed early Sunday afternoon in the Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian camp (Saida), our correspondent in south Lebanon reported, citing a source within Fatah. His colleague, Haitham Ghotani, who was with him, was also struck and later succumbed to his injuries. Calm returned to the camp afterward.
Commenting on the killing, the head of information and public relations for the Palestinian security forces, Abdel Hadi al-Assadi, said that reports suggesting the assassination was due to internal Fatah divisions are "inaccurate." According to him, the operation "raises questions about its timing" and "aims to destabilize security inside the camp at this sensitive stage," our correspondent notes.
Stressing the need to "not be drawn into rumors intended to stir discord and undermine civil peace," Assadi said the killing "bears Israeli fingerprints," without elaborating further.
The largest Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon, Ain al-Hilweh is often the scene of armed incidents between rival Palestinian factions. The assassination comes against a broader backdrop of the ongoing war between Hezbollah and Israel.
According to the latest tally from the Lebanese Ministry of Health, Israeli attacks have killed at least 3,756 people, and injured 11,632 others since March 2, the day Hezbollah entered the regional war. Last year, Lebanese authorities launched a disarmament process for the Palestinian camps. While some factions, including Fatah, surrendered part of their weapons, groups affiliated with Hezbollah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad have so far resisted. At least seven of Lebanon’s 12 Palestinian camps are now fully under state control.
