Security Chaos

Clashes between Armed Groups and/or Security Forces

Field Update

22 October 2007

Palestinian Killed in a Training Accident and another Killed and 10 Injured in Renewed Clashes between Islamic Jihad and Hamas and in Rafah

PCHR’s preliminary investigation indicates that at approximately 18:30 on Sunday, 21 October 2007, armed clashes resumed between Islamic Jihad and Hamas in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Both used machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs), and exchanged kidnappings. Gunmen took to the rooftops and deployed in streets. The clashes, which continued till midnight, spread to different areas of Rafah. Mahmoud Baker Issa (25) from Islamic Jihad was killed by a bullet in the abdomen. Ten people, including 3 civilians, were injured. They were taken to Mohammad Yusef El-Najjar Hospital in Rafah. Three were then transferred to the European Hospital in Khan Yunis and Shifa Hospital in Gaza City due to the severity of their injuries. The tally from the clashes that broke out on Saturday, 20 October, rose to 2 killed, one of them a woman, and 28 injured.

At approximately 6:30 on Friday, 19 October 2007, Qais Faris Baraka (19) from Deir El-Balah in the Central Gaza Strip was injured by a bullet in the head as he was in the previously occupied by Israeli settlements to the south of the city. Several of the victims relatives stated that he was injured during a training exercise for Izzedeen El-Qassam Battalions, the armed wing of Hamas. Baraka was taken to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir El-Balah, and then transferred to Shifa Hospital due to the severity of his injuries. He was pronounced dead at 8:30 on the same day.

PCHR is concerned by the recurrence of these incidents, and calls upon the PNA represented by the Attorney General to seriously investigate these incidents, and to publicize the results of the investigations.