Field Update

On
Wednesday evening, 23 February 2011, a child was killed and another civilian
was wounded when an explosive device detonated on a house in al-Amal
neighborhood of Khan Younis city. This incident represents part of the security
chaos and misuse of weapons plaguing the occupied Palestinian territories
(OPT).

According
to investigations conducted by the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR),
at approximately 18:10 on Wednesday, 23 February 2011, an explosive device
detonated on a two-storey house housing four families in a densely populated
area in al-Amal neighborhood of Khan Younis city. The explosion caused damage
to the apartment of the house owner’s son who is a member of the Palestinian
resistance. One of the apartment’s walls collapsed and fell on Malak Usama
Nshasi, 12, who was walking in the street. Malak was killed immediately as a
result. She was transferred to Naser Hospital in Khan Younis. Police arrived at
the scene with members of the Explosive Engineering Unit. The police opened
investigations into the incident and collected shrapnel to investigate the
cause of the explosion.

PCHR
notes with grave concern that casualties continue to be caused by the misuse of
weapons and that these incidents are a part of the state of security chaos
plaguing the OPT. PCHR also calls upon the government in Gaza to open
investigations into this incident, bring perpetrators to justice, exert efforts
to ensure the non-recurrence of such incidents and to provide protection for
civilians.