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After the death of their son Ibrahim, Huda and Alaa al-Nabulsi turned their family home into a shrine in his honour, filled with his photographs and belongings.
Visitors come from across Nablus, a Palestinian city in the West Bank, and overseas. Among treasured items are Ibrahim’s prayer rug that he prayed on for the last time and a gas mask covered in blood that he wore during a fatal shootout with Israeli forces.
“Of course, I never wished for him to leave me,” his mother Huda said. “But at the same time, Ibrahim chose the path of glory, and Allah blessed him with martyrdom.”
Ibrahim al-Nabulsi was an 18-year-old Palestinian fighter killed on 9 August last year during an Israeli Defence Forces raid in the West Bank.
His death inspired the formation of a new militant group, the Lions’ Den, which is made up of young men in their teens and 20s and has claimed responsibility for a wave of attacks against Israeli soldiers and settlers that the West Bank hadn’t seen in decades.
Revered as heroes by many young Palestinians, the Lions’ Den amassed a large following on messaging app Telegram and social media platform TikTok, with people posting live streams of attacks, profiles of fighters, and even pop songs.
But Hamas has issued a call to arms to the ‘rebellious youths’ in the West Bank, where hostilities between Palestinians and Israelis have escalated in recent years and became one of the reasons cited for Hamas’ military assault into Israeli territory.
Who was Ibrahim al-Nabulsi?
Located 50 kilometres north of Jerusalem, the old city of Nablus has been at the heart of the Palestinian struggle for nearly 100 years. Its citizens were among the first to take up arms against Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the deadly Intifadas, as the Palestinian uprisings have been known, of the 1980s and 2000s.
Ibrahim al-Nabulsi photographed on 2 April 2022, in the West Bank city of Nablus. Credit: AFP via Getty Images
Unlike Gaza, which is under Hamas control and subjected to a blockade, Nablus is under control of the Palestinian Authority, the governing body in parts of the West Bank.
Like many of his generation, Ibrahim was critical of the Palestinian Authority, which was seen by many as ineffective as hope for peace and a Palestinian state waned.
“From a young age, he was in love with his country, seeking freedom for his people,” his father Alaa said. “This idea was born out of what he witnessed, the actions of the occupation in real life.”
In 2021, Ibrahim and three other young Palestinians, Ashraf Mubaslat, Mohammad al-Dakhil, and Adham Mabrouka, formed an armed resistance movement called al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades.
While claiming no political affiliation, the group launched a number of non-fatal attacks targeting Israeli military and settlers. In February 2022, three of its leaders were killed in a daylight raid by Israeli forces.
Ibrahim went into hiding and took to social media vowing to avenge his friends. His posts reach hundreds of thousands of people on TikTok and Telegram. For a while, ‘the Lion of Nablus’, as he was nicknamed, evaded arrest attempts and defiantly appeared at the funerals of his fellow fighters.
After nearly six months, the Israeli forces tracked Ibrahim and two other fighters to an apartment in central Nablus, killing all three in a dramatic gun battle.
In his statement, then-prime minister of Israel Yair Lapid called Ibrahim a terrorist whose killing was ‘another step in our uncompromising fight against terrorism.’
Over 10,000 Palestinians attended Ibrahim’s funeral. The images of his mother, walking in the crowd and brandishing his rifle, spread across social media.
“When Ibrahim was martyred, I said Ibrahim didn’t die. If Ibrahim is gone, another 100,000 Ibrahims will appear,” she said.
Alaa al-Nabulsi in his home in Nablus that he and his wife turned into a museum of his son Ibrahim. Credit: SBS Dateline
The rise of the Lions’ Den
In the wake of Ibrahim’s death, a group of young men in Nablus announced the formation of the Lions’ Den.
They began a spree of ad hoc attacks targeting Israeli soldiers, military checkpoints, and Israeli settlers. In a matter of weeks, Lion’s Den members were involved in 34 shootings and killed one Israeli soldier.
In response to surging violence, the Israel Defence Forces ramped up what they called counter-terrorism operations in Nablus and the Jenin refugee camp, about an hour’s drive north of Nablus. And Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government in the West Bank in a move that was condemned by the United Nations and foreign governments.
A Palestinian youth holds a rock as he faces an Israeli military vehicle during an Israeli forces raid in Nablus in February. Source: AFP / Zain Jaafar /via Getty Images
On the day Hamas launched its unprecedented attack on Israel from Gaza with rocket strikes and killings of civilians, the group’s military commander Mohammed Deif cited the violence in the West Bank as one of the reasons.
“Hundreds (of our people) have been martyred and injured this year due to the occupation’s crimes,” his statement from 7 October read. “Our calls for a humanitarian (prisoners) exchange were met with refusal, and daily violations continue in the West Bank.”
Hamas is a Palestinian military and political group that has gained power in the Gaza Strip since winning legislative elections there in 2006. Its stated aim is to establish a Palestinian state while refusing to recognise Israel’s right to exist.
Hamas, in its entirety, is designated as a terrorist organisation by countries including Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States. Some countries list only its military wing as a terrorist group.
More than 1,400 Israelis, mostly civilians, were killed and 3,400 were injured by Hamas militants in the October attack, the deadliest in Israel’s history. Israel said it will continue until . The Gaza health ministry says at least 2,750 Palestinians have been killed and 9,700 wounded by Israeli airstrikes.
In what many see as a preparation for a ground offensive, Israel’s military told 1.1. million Palestinians – half of Gaza’s population - to move south. The only passage into Egypt remains closed.
Amid the worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza, the Lions’ Den has called its supporters to march in solidarity with Gaza and engaged in small-arms clashes with Israeli security forces, according to a US-based think tank, the Institute for the Study of War.
Huda al-Nabulsi waving a rifle at the funeral of her son, Ibrahim, and two other young Palestinians killed during the raid by Israeli forces in Nablus. Source: Anadolu / Getty Images
Terrorists or heroes?
To his parents and some Palestinians, Ibrahim is a hero and a martyr, a role model and a symbol of resistance. And so are the Lions’ Den fighters.
But for Israelis, they are considered as terrorists without a clear ideology and youngsters seeking online fame.
“Yes, they are launching attacks. They are killing Israelis. But what's the end goal?” said Alon Ben-David, an Israeli defence correspondent and military analyst. “I don't think there is any. They just want to be what every child wants to be today: a web influencer.”
“There is no desire [by Israeli forces] to kill anyone. But when there is resistance from the terrorists, eventually, it ends with their death,” he said.
Israeli military analyst Alon Ben-David says the Lions' Den have no ideology and are engaged in "social media motivated terrorism" Credit: SBS Dateline
Nablus mayor Sami Ahmed Hijjawi, who is aligned with the ruling Palestinian Authority, blames the instability on Israel and its encroachment on the Palestinian territories. But he disapproves of the Lions’ Den’s methods.
“We do not have the force and the power to fight Israel militarily,” he said. “Resistance against Israel should be organised, should have a political view, should have a political background, not only shooting and killing and fighting.”
‘A place with no religion or politics’
Today, the presence of the Lions’ Den is everywhere in Nablus.
Lions' Den merchandise is sold in the markets. Billboards, posters and murals carry the faces of the slain fighters, who are venerated as heroes and martyrs. Of all, Ibrahim is the most prominent.
His grave has become a site of pilgrimage for boys, not much younger than he was at the time of his death, dreaming of becoming resistance fighters like him one day.
Across Nablus, the Lions' Den fighters are revered as heroes and martyrs, and young boys dream of becoming resistance fighters like them. Credit: SBS Dateline
Kittaneh used to be a militant.
A former member of the military wing of Hamas, he fought in the Second Intifada and spent 15 years in jail for his involvement.
"I came back from the prison. It's the day that I was born again. It's the day that I came back from the grave," he said.
He returned to Nablus with a dream of doing good for his community without violence. He and his brother run a youth hostel and a bar in the old city. It’s a place that offers young people a peaceful and tolerant venue that runs events and helps organise tours in the old city. Anyone is welcome as long as they don’t talk about politics and religion.
“If you want to be a hero, you have to resist, you have to fight. It’s not right that we’re raising our sons for that.”
