A Palestinian girl walks past buildings destroyed by Israeli forces during a large scale military operation in east Jenin city, in the occupied West Bank, on 13 February 2025. [Getty]
With tears that seem endless, Mona Shalabi, the mother of Sondos Jamal Muhammad Shalabi, a pregnant woman killed by the Israeli army last Sunday in the occupied West Bank’s Nur Shams camp, described to The New Arabs the horrific details of her “cold-blooded murder”.
Sondos, who was in the eighth month of her pregnancy, didn’t pose any danger to the Israeli soldiers, her family said, and was simply seeking to help her injured husband.
Three bullets were ended her life, and her dreams of being a mother for the first time, because her unborn baby, Saif, also died with her. Her husband, Yazan, remains injured and does not know at that moment they were both dead.
The horrific incident occurred on Sunday morning as the Israeli army launched an attack of Nur Shams camp near to Tulkarm, as part of an expansion of a military operation in the northern occupied West Bank, which has been ongoing for nearly a month.
Left to die for hours
The Israeli army stormed the outskirts of Nur Shams refugee camp during the early hours of last Sunday, issuing orders to dozens of families to leave their homes or else they would face consequences.
Yazan Abu Shula, 24, decided to leave his house with his wife, Sondos, 23, to avoid any danger that the soldiers might cause, especially after witnessing the killing of residents and the bombing of homes that Jenin camp and Tulkarm camp.
It was late after midnight, they drove out of the Nur Shams camp. Yazan was driving the vehicle, his brother Bilal sat in the back seat, and Sondos was sat in the front seat. At the camp’s entrance, Yazan was surprised by an Israeli military vehicle and shots immediately came at them.
One of the bullets hit Yazan in the head, causing him to lose consciousness immediately. Sondos was terrified by the scene and started screaming. She couldn’t bear to see her husband bleeding, so she got out of the vehicle, trying to get help. Meanwhile, Bilal was trying to help his brother and desperately called out to Sondos to return to the vehicle.
“Out of intense fear of losing her husband, she went out knocking on the doors of the houses near the place, screaming for help. At those moments, an Israeli sniper opened fire on her, hitting her with three bullets in her back and thigh, so she fell to the ground,” Sondos’s mother, Mona, described to TNA.
The pregnant woman remained on the ground for three and a half hours because the Israeli army did not allow an ambulance to reach her or her husband, who was also bleeding in the vehicle.
Although it was clear that she was a pregnant woman about to give birth, the soldiers didn’t care, her family noted. Hours later, the Israeli forces allowed the ambulance to take the injured to a besieged government hospital nearby. But there was another delay because the Israel’s at the hospital’s entrance stopped and searched the ambulance.
“We received a call from Yazan’s sister telling us what had happened, so we rushed to the hospital even though the road was unsafe. I entered the room to find my daughter lifeless and without a pulse. Her body was very cold because she had been lying in the heavy rain since the moment she was injured. All her clothes were completely wet,” the victim’s mother recalled.
Sondos’s body was brought into the X-ray room to determine the fate of her unborn baby, who was found to have died as well. Yazan underwent surgery and his wounds were described as “critical”.
During this tragedy, the Israeli army also killed a young woman, Rahaf Fuad Abdullah, 21-years-old, after blowing up the door of her house in the camp and wounding her father.
Sondos and Rahaf were allowed to be buried quickly without a crowd due to the ongoing Israeli military assault on Tulkarm.
An empty crib
Sondos was impatiently waiting for her due date, because she was afraid of the Israeli siege of hospitals and the possibility that it would be difficult to reach them.
Her mother, Mona, had prepared a crib for the baby and laid out clothes for the parent’s use. The crib is now empty, eternally.
“She was calm and kind and loved her husband very much. This explains why she risked herself to ask for help to save him. He was also attached to her and wouldn’t leave her. They were a young couple, and they lived in this beautiful life of love that Israel killed in moments,” Mona described.
Yazan woke up three days after the bullet was removed from his head. He still cannot speak. According to doctors, these days are crucial in deciding his fate. He will either recover slowly or lose a vital function in his body.
“Israeli soldiers are trained to shoot at everything without mercy or pity. This time, their bullets hit my daughter, who was helpless and only dreamed of getting her first child,” Mona remarked to TNA.
Sondos was the youngest of her siblings. She has one sister, Bushra, who is still suffering greatly because of the loss of her sister, and she tells her mother that every time she sees her picture, she feels a sharp ache in her heart.
“I was waiting in the hospital for the doctors to say that they had saved her baby so that I could take and raise him, but this was their destiny to leave together. I ask God to help Yazan when he knows that he had lost them,” Mona concluded.
At least 73 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since the beginning of 2025 in the occupied West Bank.
