Ref: 30/2022

Date: 19 March 2022

Time: 15:30 GMT

Two citizens were killed, and 4 others were injured, including a woman, in Gaza City and Jenin in the West Bank.  This incident falls under the state of proliferation of weapons and assault on the rule of law in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt).

According to investigations conducted by the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) on the citizen killed in Gaza, at around 15:50 on Friday, 18 March 2022, a dispute occurred between Wadi and al-Jundi families on al-Nazzaz Street in al-Shuja’yia neighborhood, eastern Gaza City; during which, firearms were used.  As a result, Mohammed Jihad Mohammed Wadi (32) was wounded with a bullet in the neck and 4 other citizens were wounded, including a woman: Bahjat Mohammed ‘Ali Soliman Wadi (49), who was wounded with 2 bullets in the abdomen and right foot; Khaled Jihad Mohammed Wadi (31), who was wounded with 2 bullets in the feet; Nafez Mahmoud Mohammed al-Jundi (62), who was wounded with bullet shrapnel in the head and abdomen; and Asmaa’ Nafez Mahmoud al-Jundi (20), who was wounded with a bullet in the foot.

The Palestinian police arrived at the scene and surrounded the area to disperse the dispute and arrest members of the 2 families.

According to information obtained by PCHR, the dispute occurred between the 2 families, who are also maternal cousins, on grounds of intermarriage problems that developed into use of firearms and inflected casualties.

Later in a statement, police declared on Friday afternoon arrest of a suspect in the murder of Wadi and that he was referred to the competent authorities to complete the legal proceedings in the case.  The statement added that the suspect was recently released from prison on 10 January after spending a 3-year sentence on criminal grounds.

According to information collected by PCHR on the murder of a citizen in Jenin, at around 20:10 on Friday, 18 March 2022, Nidal Samir Mousa Bahis (34) was killed after gunmen opened fire at him in his house in al-Salmah area in the outskirts of Raba village in Jenin.

Following the shooting, a Palestinian police force arrived at the area and started inspection to identify the incident circumstances.

According to initial information, Bahis was a previous resident of Hebron and around a year ago moved to the area.  He has been haunted on grounds of a previous revenge as he had been subject to several shootings.

PCHR is deeply concerned over the recurrence of incidents of proliferation of weapons and denounces the use of firearms in family and personal disputes, which jeopardizes the right to life, rule of law and Palestinian civil peace.

PCHR calls upon the Palestinian Authority to take all the serious measures to put an end to the state of proliferation of weapons, including promptly imposing the rule of law, in order to maintain civil peace in light of the lately spiking homicide in the occupied Palestinian territory.