Ref: 29/2023

Date: 08 March 2023

Time: 13:30 GMT

PCHR condemns in the strongest terms the use of force by the Palestinian security services today and firing of tear gas canisters to suppress the mourners at the funeral of a Palestinian, who was shot dead yesterday by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) in Nablus.

According to PCHR’s investigations, at approximately 10:10 on Wednesday, 08 March 2023, the funeral of ‘Abdul-Fattah Ibrahim Kharousha (49) made its way from the Rafidah Governmental Hospital in Nablus, noting that Kharousha, an ex-detainee and a member of Hamas Movement, was assassinated by IOF after surrounding him in his house in Nablus allegedly for killing 2 settlers in Huwara village on 26 February 2023. When the funeral arrived at Al-Montazahat Street in Nablus, they found the Palestinian security services deployed in the area and mostly masked.  The latter immediately dispersed the mourners and fired tear gas canisters to prevent them from moving towards the Martyrs Square in Nablus.  As a result, the corpse wrapped in a Hamas green flag fell on the ground, but the mourners were able to carry it back and put it inside an ambulance, which took the body to the old ‘Askar camp, where Kharousha was born, without crossing by the square, where the security officers were also deployed.

During the suppression of the funeral, the Palestinian security services assaulted a foreign journalist, from Denmark, namely Nicholas who was taking photos of the security services’ deployment and suppression of the funeral. Then, Wahaj Jamal Bani Mufleh (23), a freelance journalist, approached the security officers telling them that Nicholas is a visiting journalist; However, they beat Mufleh as well and ordered then not to take photos.

The Palestinian News and Information Agency-WAFA published a statement for an official source in Nablus about what happened in the funeral, saying:“It was priorly agreed on the funeral arrangements to block any attempt of sedition and incitement, everything went normal as agreed, but when the funeral arrived at Al-Montazahat Street, mourners in the funeral took the body of the martyr out of the ambulance against the will of the martyr’s family and put it down on the ground. A dispute then broke out and things started to escalate, forcing the security services to intervene with limited force to control the situation and return the body to the ambulance upon the request of the family, and and to distance the strangers and provocateurs.”PCHR reiterates its strong condemnation of the attack, considering it a violent conduct that is unfit to funerals, particularly the victims of IOF attacks, and sees the governorate’s statement as an attempt to justify what happened and speaking far away from the truth that was shown in videos virally published proofing the suppression and teargas canister-firing at the mourners.

PCHR calls upon the Public Prosecutor to open a serious investigation into the attacks and suppression and hold accountable the perpetrators as well as respecting Palestinians’ rights, stop persecuting peaceful assemblies and their organizers, abiding by the law, and not imposing arbitrary measures on funerals according to the political affiliation of the deceased.