Palestinian Killed and 3 Others Injured, including 14-year-old Girl, in Family Dispute in Beit Hanoun

Field Update

13 February 2022

On Saturday, 12 February 2022, a Palestinian young man was killed and his two sons, along with a girl passing by in the area, were injured after gunmen opened fire at them in Beit Hanoun.  This incident falls under the state of proliferation of weapons and assault on the rule of law in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt).

According to investigations conducted by the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), at approximately 20:45 on Saturday, gunmen opened fire at members of Shabat family in Beit Hanoun. As a result, 3 young men  and a girl were injured:

Basil Mohammed ‘Abed al-‘Aziz Shabat (52), who was shot with a live bullet in the neck;

‘Eliyaan (22) and Mohammed (31) Basil Shabat, who were shot with live bullets in their legs; and

Saja ‘Emad Yousef Sahwil (14), who was shot with a live bullet in her right thigh.

Basil was taken to the Indonesian Hospital in Jabalia, where he was referred to al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City due to his serious health condition. He was pronounced dead less than an hour after arriving to al-Shifa Hospital. His sons and the wounded girl received treatment at Beit Hanoun Hospital, where their injuries were classified as moderate. In the aftermath, armed clashes erupted between Shabat and Fayyad families, members of whom were suspected of being involved in the attack. The clashes continued for an hour before a large police force arrived at the scene and imposed a security cordon on the area. Also, the police managed to arrest some of the shooters and other persons involved in the dispute and confiscated a number of firearms. An investigation was opened into the incident, as declared by the police.

It is believed that the crime was motivated by an old dispute between the two families, who live next  to each other in al-Ba’li area in central Beit Hanoun.

PCHR is deeply concerned over the recurrence of incidents of proliferation of weapons and denounces the use of firearms in personal and family disputes, which jeopardizes the right to life, rule of law and Palestinian civil peace.

PCHR calls upon the Palestinian Authority to take serious measures to put an end to the state of proliferation of weapons, by promptly imposing the rule of law, to preserve civil peace as homicides have spiked in the oPt in recent months.