Field Update

On 06 May 2012,
the house of Ms. Sohaila Tarazi, Director of al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza, was
fired at by unknown persons. No casualties were reported.  Additionally, the administrative staff of the
hospital received threats on their mobile phones.  The two incidents are part of the state of
security chaos and violations of the rule of the law in the occupied Palestinian
territory (oPt).

According to
investigations conducted by the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) and
testimony of Ms. Tarazi, at approximately 21:15 on Sunday, 06 May 2012, her house,
which is located in al-Thawra Street in the west of Gaza City, was fired at by
unknown persons, but no casualties were reported.  The Palestinian police arrived at the place,
examined the scene and initiated an investigation.

It should be
noted that administrative staff members of the al-Ahli hospital received threats
on their mobile phones from an Israeli Orange number.  Moreover, Ms. Tarazi received threats from
the same number on 05 December 2011.  It
is also worth noting that the unknown persons threw a homemade bomb at the home
of Ms. Tarazi on 18 October 2011. No casualties were reported.  Following the attack, Ms. Tarazi received
threats on her mobile phone.

The house of
Dr. Maher ‘Ayyad, Medical Director of al-Ahli Hospital, which is located in
al-Remal neighborhood in Gaza City was also attacked on 25 February 2011.[1]  As a result of the attack, his brother’s car,
which was parked in front of the house, was damaged.  Then no casualties were reported either.  In addition, Dr. Ayyad received threats on his
mobile phone following the explosion, from the same Israeli number.

In her
testimony to PCHR’s fieldworker, Ms. Tarazi said that she filed complaints with
the Palestinian police concerning the above mentioned incidents in order to bring
the perpetrators to justice.

PCHR strongly
condemns the attacks against Ms. Tarazi and the administrative staff of al-Ahli
Hospital and notes that these incidents are part of the security chaos and
violations of the rule of the law plaguing the oPt.  PCHR calls upon the Attorney General to open
serious investigations into the incidents and to bring the perpetrators before
justice.