Ref: 47/2006
Date: 05 June 2006
Time: 12:00 GMT
Serious Escalation in Tensions Between Fatah and Hamas in the Gaza Strip
Four Killed, including a pregnant woman, and twelve injured, including a woman and child in clashes in Gaza, Khan Yunis and Rafah
PCHR strongly condemns the armed clashes that have been taking place between members of the Executive Force, formed recently by the Minister of the Interior, and members of the Izzedeen El-Qassam Brigades on one side and members of the Preventive Security Apparatus and the Al-Aqsa Martys Brigades on the other. These clashes are a serious escalation of the tensions between Fatah and Hamas in Gaza, Khan Yunis, and Rafah. Clashes between both sides resulted in four deaths, including a pregnant woman, and the injury of twelve others, including a woman and a child.
PCHR’s preliminary investigation indicates that the latest clashes took place in Gaza at approximately 22:30 on Sunday, 4 June 2006, when a group from the Executive Force clashed with armed members of Fatah near Martyrs Square in Beach Camp, Gaza City. The confrontation took place near a house where the mourning ceremony for Khader Afana, an officer in the Preventive Security, was taking place. He had been killed on Thursday, 1 June 2006. The clashes resulted in the death of two Fatah members:
– Mohammad Nabil El-Balawi (30), a resident of Beach Camp, killed by a bullet to the chest; and
– Mohammad Mas’oud El-Kurdi (27), a resident of Sheikh Radwan, killed by bullets to the back.
In addition, two others were injured including Ayman Mohammad Afana, a 25-year-old resident of Beach Camp. He is the brother of the late Khader Afana. The identity of the second injured person is not known. Available information indicates that he is a member of the Executive Force. The casualties were taken to Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. Sources at the hospital stated that El-Balawi and El-Kurdi were pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital. Afana’s injury was listed as serious. He was hit by a bullet to the abdomen.
In Khan Yunis at approximately 21:25, an activist in the Izzedeen El-Qassam Brigades was driving a jeep with four members of his family. His young daughter, his brother’s wife who was six months pregnant, and two cousins were in the vehicle. The jeep came under fire in Mohammad El-Durran School Street, near the Special Police and Preventive Security stations in the Qiezan El-Najjar area, south of Khan Yunis. All the occupants of the vehicle were hit. Special Police vehicles took the victims to Naser Hospital and the European Hospital in Khan Yunis.
Reem Shehada El-Ghalban (a 28-year-old woman, 6 months pregnant), who was hit with several bullets all over her body, and Atteya Ibrahim Atteya El-Ghalban (20), who was hit with several bullets to the upper body, were both pronounced dead shortly after admission to hospital. The people injured in the attack are:
– Yaser Ibrahim Hussein El-Ghalban (31), hit by a bullet to the head. His condition is very serious. He is a senior member of the Izzedeen El-Qassam Brigades in the Ma’an area of Khan Yunis;
– Tasnim Yaser El-Ghalban (a 3-year-old girl), hit with a bullet to the head. Her condition is moderate to serious; and
– Nidal Mahmoud El-Ghalban (24), hit by bullets to the abdomen and shoulder, as well as shrapnel to the neck. His condition is moderate.
After the injured were taken to the hospital, unknown assailants burned the jeep in which the victims had been traveling.
Half an hour after the incident, gunmen from the Izzedeen El-Qassam Brigades arrived in the vicinity of the Preventive Security station and fired at it. An armed clash then took place. Rafiq Fawzi Abu Tayba, an 18-year-old member of the Preventive Security, was hit with a bullet to the foot. A Ministry of Health ambulance attempted to evacuate him to Naser Hospita but, due to the presence of gunmen in the hospital, he had to be taken to the European Hospital instead. When medics attempted to bring him inside the hospital, Hamas members forced the ambulance driver to put him into one of their jeeps. He was taken to an unknown location. At approximately 23:15 in the evening, masked gunmen in a car arrived at the reception area of Naser Hospital. They told hospital staff to go to the back yard of the hospital, where they found Abu Tayba bleeding from bullet injuries to his legs.
At approximately 01:45 on Monday, 5 June 2006, a locally-produced rocket grenade was fired at the Security Forces Compound in the center of Khan Yunis. The grenade did not explode. And at approximately 02:00, a rocket-propelled grenade was fired at the same compound, causing some damage. No injuries were reported.
At approximately 02:00 on Sunday, 4 June 2006, armed clashes erupted between members of the Izzedeen El-Qassam Brigades and members of the Interior Ministry Executive Force on the one side and members of the Qishta clan, who are also members of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, and the Preventive Security Apparatus on the other. The clashes started when gunmen traveling in a Mercedez fired at Ra’ed El-Masri, a Hamas activist, near his home in the El-Barazil area, which is near Othman Bin Affan Street in southern Rafah. El-Masri called his colleagues and groups from the Interior Ministry Executive Force and the Izzedeen El-Qassam Brigades deployed in the area, erecting roadblocks in the El-Barazil area and on Othman Bin Affan Street. Soon afterwards, members of the Executive Force came under fire from the Qishta area, adjacent to Othman Bin Affan Street. Two members of the force were injured, one very seriously:
– Husam Abdel-Hakim Abu Anza (25), injured by a bullet to the head. His condition is very serious and he was transferred to the European Hospital in Khan Yunis; and
– Mohammad El-Bawwab (30), injured by bullets to the feet.
Consequently, reinforcements from the Izzedeen El-Qassam Brigades and the Executive Force arrived in the area. In addition, armed groups from the Qishta clan, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and the Preventive Security arrived in the area. Intense clashes erupted between both sides. At approximately 05:50, members of the Izzedeen El-Qassam Brigades fired a rocket at the Mercedez that had fired at the Hamas activist, El-Masri, when the vehicle was seen parked in the Qishta area. The car was destroyed. The clashes, which spread to the area near Mohammad Yousef El-Najjar Hospital in Rafah and continued through the morning, resulted in the injury of four people from the Qishta clan, including a woman and her child:
– Mohammad Ghanem Qishta (23), injured by a bullet to the right hand while in the area of the clashes;
– Nash’at Osama Qishta (14), injured by bullets to the legs, while in the area of the clashes;
– Mohammad Yousef Qishta (23), injured by three bullets to the left leg, while on his way to Mohammad Yousef El-Najjar Hospital; and
– Azzeyya Mohammad Qishta (47), injured by bullets to the legs, while on her way to Mohammad Yousef El-Najjar Hospital.
In an incident relating to these clashes, at approximately 06:40 on Sunday, an armed group of masked Izzedeen El-Qassam Brigades members stormed the reception area in Mohammad Yousef El-Najjar Hospital. They threatened physicians and nurses at gunpoint, fired their guns, and kidnapped Mohammad Ghanem Qishta. They took him for questioning to an undisclosed location for an hour. They shot him in the legs before taking him to Mohammad Yousef El-Najjar Hospital and from there he was taken to the European Hospital. Furthermore, a group from the Izzedeen El-Qassam Brigades kidnapped Nash’at Qishta and Mohammad Yousef Qishta, both were injured. They were taken for questioning to an undisclosed location. After an hour and a half, they were returned to Mohammad Yousef El-Najjar Hospital. They were then transferred to the European Hospital in Khan Younis. It was clear that Mohammad Yousef Qishta had been severely tortured during his abduction and he had marks on his shoulders from the beating he had endured.
PCHR strongly condemns these clashes, and:
– is gravely concerned over the continued and serious escalation in the use of arms by armed groups and individuals, which is further aggravating the security chaos currently plaguing the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT);
– stresses that these clashes represent a further deterioration in the state of security chaos in the OPT, which is taking place in the absence of any serious legal steps by the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) to confront this situation;
– calls upon the PNA, represented by the Attorney-General, to investigate these incidents and bring the perpetrators to justice;
– affirms that public institutions, especially hospitals, should not be brought into such disputes; condemns any attempt to undermine these institutions; and calls upon all parties to stop attacks on hospitals and their patients; and
– calls upon all factions and armed Palestinian groups to engage in dialogue and refrain from violence and the use of arms in order to resolve internal disputes.
-End-
