Field Update

On Friday, 13 August 2010, Deir
al-Balah Police Station was fired at by a gunman, who was later identified as
Suhaib Ahmed al-Kurd, an officer in the Security and Protection Service, who is
the son of Minister of Social Affairs in Gaza government. The shooting started after a quarrel between
the police and the Minister’s two sons. This incident is part of the state of security chaos and misuse of
weapons currently prevailing in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT).

According to investigations
conducted by the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), on Friday
afternoon, 13 August 2010, Suhaib Ahmed al-Kurd, who is the son of Minister of
Social Affairs, Ahmed al-Kurd, and an officer in the Security and Protection
Service, fired in the air using a Kalashnikov rifle in front of Deir al-Balah
police station, after a quarrel with the police, as he knew about detaining his
brother, Hamza Ahmed al-Kurd, by the police. The police confiscated Suhaib’s gun and took him into the police
station, where he was detained with his brother, Hamza. Later on the same day, members of the Military
Intelligence Service arrived and transported him from the police station. It should be noted that Hamza al-Kurd had
been detained by the police because he attacked a policeman, who was standing
in front of the police station, after he came to follow up a compliant filed by
members of al-Salout family against him following a car accident that developed
into a quarrel between the two parties. PCHR was informed that Hamza and Suhaib were released later.

PCHR strongly condemns shooting by a
member of the security services in front of the police station, which is part
of the state of security chaos and the misuse of weapons currently prevailing
in the OPT and calls upon the Attorney-General to seriously investigate the incident
and bring the perpetrators to justice.