June 9, 2022
PCHR Calls Upon Public Prosecution to Investigate Northern Gaza Events:  4 Persons Wounded by Palestinian Police while Removing Encroachments on Government Land in the Bedouin Village
PCHR Calls Upon Public Prosecution to Investigate Northern Gaza Events:  4 Persons Wounded by Palestinian Police while Removing Encroachments on Government Land in the Bedouin Village

 Ref: 73/2022Date: 10 June 2022Time: 06:20 GMT Today afternoon, four Palestinians sustained bullet wounds; one is in serious condition, by the Palestinian police fire when the latter suppressed a protest organized against the removal of encroachments on a government land in the Bedouin Village, north of the Gaza Strip. Also, police officers and paramedics sustained wounds due to attacks by the villagers who tried to protest the removal of encroachments. The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) calls upon the public prosecution to open an investigation into the incident, including the excessive use of force by the law enforcement officers and the Government’s Commitment in following the necessary legal procedures before the removal of encroachments and subsequent incidents, including the attacks on law enforcement officers and ambulances.According to PCHR’s investigations, at approximately 12:30 on Thursday, 09 June 2022, a Palestinian police force; some officers were uniformed, and others dressed in civilian clothes, accompanied with Land Authority staff arrived at al-Irtibat Street in Um al-Naser village, north of the Gaza Strip, to remove villagers’ encroachments on a government land. Villagers tried to interrupt the removal of the encroachments and heavily threw stones at the Land Authority vehicles and police cars. Consequently, an order maintenance police force arrived and tried to control the situation. They heavily opened fire in the area, wounding 4 persons with live bullets.  The injured were as follows Hasan Ahmed Mousa Sayyah (24), who was seriously wounded after being hit with a live bullet in the chest; Yaser Ahmed Mousa Sayyah (29), who was hit with a live bullet in the right ear; Salem Mohammed Salem Irmilat (43), who was hit with a live bullet in the right leg and shrapnel in the head and chest; ‘Alaa Saber Suliaman al-Jahjouh (26), who was hit with a live bullet in the right thigh. Moreover, many others sustained bruises and fractures all over their bodies after being beaten by police officers. Additionally, two police officers sustained an incised injury in the head and bruises due to the villagers’ assaults and stone-throwing.Some those injured were taken in civilian cars and ambulances to the Indonesian Hospital in Jabalia while the villagers threw stones at ambulances belonging to Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) and military medical services ambulances. As a result, the ambulances sustained severe damage and the paramedics sustained wounds and bruises.Accordingly, the police heavily deployed in the area, declared it as a closed military zone and imposed a curfew in the village after arresting fifty persons and they are pending investigations.Meanwhile, the Ministry of Interior and National Security declared in a statement that “we follow what happened at noon in Um al Nasser village in northern Gaza Strip, during the implementation of a decision to remove encroachment on public property that resulted in the injury of police officers and citizens.  Therefore, the Ministry of Interior and National Security decided to open an investigation into the circumstances of the incident.”PCHR condemns excessive use of force by the police, including shooting that inflicted injuries, and denounces the attack on public property, including ambulances, paramedics, and law enforcement officers. Also, PCHR rejects any encroachment on public property and stresses the importance for full compliance with legal procedures when removing any alleged encroachments.PCHR also stresses the authority’s right to apply law but in the same time the security services should comply with the shooting standards, which oblige the security officers to use weapons only in states of self-defense and defense of others against an imminent threat according to the international principle of proportionality.PCHR calls upon the public prosecution to open a serious probe into all the events, including the Land Authority’s fulfillment of all the legal procedures during the encroachment removal and the accompanying attacks whether on villagers or on law enforcement officers. 

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