Ref: 19/2014
Date: 22 February 2014
Date: 11:00 GMT
The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) condemns the killing of two girls in Jabalia and Khan Younis last Thursday by their relatives in a significant increase of the phenomenon of violence against women in the oPt. PCHR calls upon the Public Prosecution to open a serious investigation into these crimes and bring the perpetrators to justice. PCHR calls upon the government in Gaza to take the necessary measures in order to put an end to violence against women.
According to investigations conducted by PCHR and police sources, the first crime was committed on Thursday, 22 February 2014, as the Palestinian police received information about the burial of a girl in al-Shuhadaa’ Cemetery, east of Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, without obtaining an official burial permit. The police immediately headed to the cemetery, where they found the deceased girl’s family. The police exhumed the corpse of (S. N. M.) (17) after getting a permission from the Public Prosecution and then transferred the body to the Forensic Department in Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. According to medical sources in the hospital, the girl died as a result of severe torture. Her body was covered in bruises and wounds. In addition it appeared the girl had suffered from severe gangrene and as a result had lost her lower limbs. The Palestinian police arrested the father of the girl and his second wife, due to pending investigation into the crime. Police sources confirmed that the father of the girl admitted to using violence against his daughter for years including various forms of torture and had never provided any form of or access to medical care.
In a separate incident in the evening of the same Thursday, the body of (E. M. Sh.) (18) from Bani Sheila in the east of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip arrived at Naser Hospital in the city after having been stabbed with a sharp tool in the neck. The Palestinian police immediately went to the family’s house and arrested her brother on suspicion of being involved in the murder. An investigation has been opened to look into the circumstances of the crime.
PCHR strongly condemns these murders and:
