On April 2, 2002, Palestinian man Jaykoub Abu Da, 37, and his mother Sumaya, 64, were shot dead by Israeli soldiers at their home in Bethlehem, on the West Bank of the Jordan River in the Palestinian territories.

 　On April 2nd 2002, Palestinian man Jaykoub Abu Da, 37, and his mother Sumaya, 64, were shot dead by Israeli soldiers at their home in Bethlehem, in the West Bank of the Palestinian territories. Tension had been high in the area around the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem after Israeli soldiers shot dead a Palestinian man on March 31st.

　　The Israeli military's “Operation Shield of Defense” in the West Bank from March 29 to April 21, 2002, was the largest military operation since the 1967 war. The incursion came after a series of bombings by Palestinian militants in Israel. On March 31, two Palestinian suicide bombings killed at least 14 people. According to the United Nations, 497 Palestinians and 30 Israeli soldiers were killed during Operation Shield of Defense. 7,000 Palestinians were detained and there was extensive destruction of property and infrastructure. According to several human rights organizations, the Israeli military carried out a massacre of Palestinians during the invasion that was illegal under international humanitarian law and constituted a war crime.

　　Bethlehem was under Jordanian control until the 1967 Six-Day War, when it was occupied by Israel along with the rest of the West Bank. After this, Israel controlled Bethlehem, and in 1995, Israel handed over Bethlehem to the Palestinian Authority under the terms of the Interim Self-Government Agreement.