Security Chaos and Proliferation of Weapons
Using Weapons in Personal and Family Disputes
Field Update
28 March 2006
10 Students Injured as a Result of the Explosion of a Home-Made Hand Grenade in Beit Hanoun
On Tuesday morning, 28 March 2006, 10 students were injured when another student threw a home-made hand grenade at them in a quarrel related to a family dispute in Beit Hanoun town in the northern Gaza Strip.
According to investigations conducted by PCHR, at approximately 09:30, a quarrel erupted inside Hayel ‘Abdul Hamid Secondary School in Beit Hanoun, with relation to a dispute between the families of al-Masri and al-Kafrna in the town. The quarrel escalated and students used stones in it. Later, a student threw a home-made grenade at other students, injuring 10 of them:
1. Mohammed Ayman al-Kafarna, 15, injured by shrapnel to the right ear;
2. Mohammed Eyad al-Kafarna, 17, injured by shrapnel to the back;
3. Tayseer Basim al-Kafarna, 17, injured by shrapnel to the right shoulder;
4. Ahmed ‘Othman al-Kafarna, 15, injured by shrapnel to the right shoulder;
5. Ahmed ‘Abdul Rahman al-Kafarna, 17, injured by shrapnel to the head;
6. Mohammed Hatem al-Kafarna, 17, injured by shrapnel to the right hand;
7. Ahmed Jalal al-Kafrana, 17, injured by shrapnel to the hands;
8. Ghazi Marwan al-Kafarna, 18, injured bys shrapnel to the chest;
9. ‘Ali Subhi al-Kafarna, 18, injured by shrapnel throughout the body; and
10. Ibrahim Hassan al-Masri, injured by shrapnel to the right hand.
A police officer was also injured in the head by a stone, when the police intervened to stop the quarrel.
It is worth noting that 7 persons were killed and 40 others, including 5 children, were injured during an armed dispute between the families of al-Kafarna and al-Masri in Beit Hanoun in December 2005.
PCHR is concerned about the continuation of internal violence, including the use of weapons in personal and family disputes, which constitute a continuum of the state of security chaos in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. PCHR calls upon the Palestinian National Authorities, represented by the Attorney-General, to investigate such attacks, and to bring the perpetrators to justice.
