Ref: 33/2021

Date: 10 March 2021

Time: 11:00 GMT

A violent family dispute broke out yesterday evening, 09 March 2021, in al-Shuja’yia neighborhood in eastern Gaza City, where firearms and grenades were used, killing a 22-year old male.  PCHR is strongly concerned over this incident and emphasizes that a serious investigation should be opened, and its results published publicly and that due legal processes should be followed.

According to PCHR’s investigations, at approximately 22:00 on Tuesday, 09 March 2021, a dispute, where firearms and grenades were used, broke out between al-‘Ar’eer and Shamali families in al-Shuja’yia neighborhood near al-Tawfiq Mosque on Baghdad Street due to an old dispute between the 2 families.  As a result, ‘Issam Rafiq Khader al-‘Ar’eer (22) was killed with a bullet in his head.  It should be noted that the old dispute occurred a month ago when a member of al-‘Ar’eer family stabbed a member of Shamali Family.

Ayman al-Batniji, Spokesperson of the Palestinian Police in Gaza, stated that the police rushed to the scene and controlled the armed dispute.  The police arrested several persons and opened an investigation into the incident.  Al-Batniji added that the preliminary investigations showed that the dispute was on grounds of a previous dispute that renewed yesterday.

According to information obtained by PCHR’s fieldworker from a source at the Forensic Medicine Department at al-Shifa Hospital, the cause of al-Ara’ir’s death was a live bullet in the head.

It should be noted that 11 Palestinians were murdered from manifestations of social violence, misuse of weapons and assault on the rule of law, since the beginning of 2021: 7 in the West Bank and 4 in the Gaza Strip. Of those, armed family disputes resulted in the deaths of  6: 5 in the West Bank and 1 in the Gaza Strip. Four others were killed due to misuse of weapons: 3 in the Gaza Strip and 1 in the West Bank, in addition to the murder of a Palestinian in the West Bank during a law enforcement mission.

PCHR expresses its concern over the ongoing incidents of weapon proliferation and condemns the use of firearms in family and personal disputes that jeopardize the right to life, the rule of law, and the Palestinian civil peace. Thereby, PCHR calls upon the Palestinian authorities to take serious and immediate steps to curb the state of weapon proliferation in the West Bank, including possession of firearms with families, and impose the rule of law to protect civil peace especially with the recent increase of murder cases.