Ref: 109/2020

Date: 21 October 2020

Time: 10:30 GMT

On Tuesday, 4 citizens, including 3 women, were wounded in two separate shooting incidents in Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip on grounds of family disputes; one of the women sustained critical wounds.

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) notes with concern the growing phenomenon of gender-based violence (GBV) in the occupied Palestinian Territory (oPt) and calls upon the Public Prosecution in Gaza to launch a serious investigation into the circumstances of both incidents and to bring the perpetrators to justice. PCHR also calls upon security services to take necessary measures to end the use of firearms in family disputes.

According to PCHR’s investigations, at approximately 19:30 on Tuesday, 20 October 2020, a gunman opened fire directly at Ali Mahmoud al-Mabhouh’s house, his father-in-law, located on Bloc (12) in Jabalia refugee camp. The house shelters a family of 6, including 4 children. As a result, 3 persons were wounded:

1. Yousra Mohammed al-Mabhouh (63), al-Mabhouh’s mother who was visiting, was shot and injured with 4 live bullets in the waist and right thigh;
2. ‘Ali Mahmoud al-Mabhouh (42) sustained shrapnel wounds in his back; and
3. Samaher Mohammed al-Mabhouh (41), al-Mabhouh’s wife, was shot and injured with a live bullet in her thigh.

The wounded were taken to the Indonesian Hospital in Jabalia camp, where Yousra’s injuries were classified as critical; she underwent a surgery, and her spleen was removed. Also, al-Mabhouh and his wife’s injuries were classified as minor and moderate respectively.

The family stated that the shooter is their son-in-law who was at odds with them.

The police arrived at the scene, inspected it and opened an investigation into the incident. The shooter was arrested and the firearm was confiscated.

In a similar incident, at approximately 19:00, a citizen shot his wife, Hanaa’ Ibrahim Abu Qamar (40), with his personal pistol, wounding her with live bullets in the arm, shoulder and chest. She was taken to the Indonesian Hospital, where medical sources classified her condition between moderate and serious. According to PCHR’s field investigations, Abu Qamar has been staying at her brother’s house for the past few days after disputing with her husband, who claimed to visit his brother-in-law’s house to reconcile with his wife and return home together. As Abu-Qamar came out to meet her husband, he shot her multiple times and fled.

The police arrived at the scene, inspected it and went to her husband’s house located near  al-Hindi pharmacy in the Beit Lahia Housing Project, but he managed to escape. At approximately 21:30 on the same day, he surrendered himself to a police station in Jabalia.

 PCHR is deeply concerned over the growing phenomenon of social violence, including the use of weapons in family and personal disputes, which jeopardizes Palestinian civil peace. PCHR calls upon:

1. The Public Prosecution to exert more efforts to prosecute the perpetrators of murder crimes, including GBV crimes, and to take all necessary legal measures against them without allowing any excuses to reduce sentences;
2. The Palestinian Authority (PA) to abide by the international conventions it has acceded to, in particular the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), which requires it to take all measures to protect women, including not reducing sentences for perpetrators of GBV crimes; and
3. The security services to take serious measures to end the use of firearms in family and personal disputes, and to take the necessary legal measures against the perpetrators.