Field Update

On Tuesday afternoon, 01 March 2016, a child from Ma’an area in Khan Younis was killed with a bullet in a family dispute.  This incident is part of the phenomenon of misuse of weapons and assault on the rule of law prevailing in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt).

According to investigations conducted by the Palestinian Centre for Human rights (PCHR), at approximately 17:30 on Tuesday, 01 March 2016, altercations between members from Isleih family near Ma’an Sport Club in Khan Younis developed into a dispute, during which firearms were used from both parties to the dispute. As result, Nidal Salem Khalil Isleih (11), whose father was involved in the dispute, was hit with a bullet to the chest when he was in the vicinity of his house.  The wounded child was taken to Gaza European Hospital in Khan Younis, where his death was declared shortly after his arrival.

Police sources said to a PCHR fieldworker that an investigation was initiated into the incident and the child’s corpse was transferred to the Forensic Department.  The sources added that one of the persons suspected of shooting was arrested and then admitted doing so.  However, he denied that he was the one who shot the child.  The case was referred to the Attorney General to follow up the investigation and legal measures.

It should be mentioned that another child identified as Suhaib Mujahed Saqer (5) was killed last Thursday, 25 February 2016, in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, as he sustained shrapnel wounds throughout his body. Moreover, his six-year-old brother Mos’ab sustained shrapnel wounds throughout his body as well due to the detonation of an explosive device, which the two brothers mishandled in their house; noting that their father is an officer of a Palestinian security service.  Since the beginning of this year, the number of children killed in incidents related to proliferation of weapons and security chaos amounted to three; all of whom were from the Gaza Strip.

PCHR stresses that the killing of Isleih is part of the state of proliferation of weapons and assault on the rule of law, and calls upon the Attorney General’s office to open a serious and transparent investigation into the incident, publish the investigation results and bring the perpetrators to justice.