Ref: 101/2021

Date: July 2021

Time: 10:00 GMT

On Friday, a citizen was killed after being shot by a security force at a checkpoint belonging to the Ministry of Interior and National Security in Tuffah neighborhood, east of Gaza City.

According to investigations conducted by the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), at approximately 23:50 on Friday, 23 July 2021, Hasan Mohammed Hasan Abu Zayid (27), from Tuffah neighborhood in eastern Gaza City, arrived dead at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, where it was found that a live bullet penetrated his abdomen and exited his back. The Victim’s father, Mohammed Abu Zayid, said to PCHR’s fieldworker that at approximately 22:30 on Friday, his son along with two of his friends namely Naser ‘Eliwa and Osama Abu ‘Aser went out in a car they rented. Two hours later, Hasan’s father received a phone call informing him that his son was shot with a live bullet while he was at the Gaza City’s eastern borders along with his friend, and his son succumbed to his wounds before his arrival to the hospital. Hasan’s father called upon the competent authorities to identify the incident’s circumstances and causes behind killing his son, clarifying that his son was married with 3 children, and he was a construction worker.

Eyad al-Buzm, Spokesperson of the Ministry of Interior and National Security in Gaza, stated following the incident that late at night, a vehicle crossed at speed a checkpoint belonging to the Border Guard in the eastern border area of Tuffah neighborhood, east of Gaza City.  The officers at the checkpoint noticed suspicious moves in the vehicle, so they asked the driver to stop, but he refused and sped away. Al-Buzm added that the security officers fired 2 bullets at the vehicle, but it did not stop.  Later, it was found that one of the persons inside was wounded and taken to al-Shifa hospital, where he succumbed to his wounds, while the 2 other persons inside the vehicle were detained.  Al-Buzm said that the Ministry of Interior and National Security has opened an investigation into the incident to identify the details.

The Independent Commission for Human Rights (ICHR) has assigned a doctor to participate in the autopsy of Abu Zayid’s body.  The doctor designated by ICHR said that “a bullet entered Abu Zayid’s lower abdomen and exited the back, causing laceration in the lower small intestine and in the main artery branching from the aorta and supplying the right lower limb;” this runs counter to the Interior Ministry’s narrative.

PCHR emphasizes that the investigations into this incident should be impartial and serious; the results should be publicly published and that due legal processes should be followed.  Moroever, all necessary measures should be taken to avoid its recurrence.

PCHR calls upon the security services to be fully committed to the standards on use of firearms that oblige security officers to use firearms only in the cases of self-defense or imminent danger according to the principle of disproportionality stipulated in the international standards.