Field Update

On Friday, 25 June 2010, Medhat Nawwaf Abdul Razeq
al-Da’lis, 26, of Gaza City, was killed by a bullet to the head as a result of
mishandling a gun belonging to his brother. On Thursday, 24 June 2010, Isma’il Shokri Sweileh (al-Babli), 5, from
Nussairat refugee camp, was killed by a bullet to the neck and ‘Isa Yasser
Matar, 4, was sustained wounds to the head in a family dispute in Nussairat.

According to investigations conducted by the Palestinian
Center for Human Rights (PCHR), at approximately 15:30 on Friday, Mr. al-Da’lis,
from al-Nafaq Street in Gaza City, was struck by a bullet to the head, killing
him instantly. According to his mother,
Intisar Abdul Fattah, 55, Mr. al-Dalis was playing with his brother’s gun
“Kalashnikov” inside the house, when the gun fired accidentally, and
he sustained a bullet to the head. His
mother described hearing the sound of gunfire and rushing, with the rest of the
family, to his room, where they found Mr. al-Da’lis on the floor and the gun lying
on him. They transported him to al-Shifa
hospital in Gaza City, where he was pronounced dead. Palestinian police sources stated that they had
opened an investigation into the incident.

In a separate incident, at approximately 18:00 on Thursday,
a family dispute started between the Matar and Darweesh (al-Qar’ishi) families in
the al-Hasayna area, to the west of Nussairat refugee camp, as a result of a
problem between the two families’ children. The family dispute led to some persons involved firing weapons.
Simultaneously, children were playing nearby in the street. As a result, Isma’il Shokri Sweileh, 5, was
killed by a bullet to the neck and ‘Isa Yasser Matar, 4, was wounded by a
bullet to the head. Both children were
transported to Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ hospital in Deir al-Balah, where Sweileh was pronounced
dead and Matar was transported to al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City due to his
serious condition. The Palestinian
police arrived and arrested some members representing the family of the person
who opened the fire; however, the person suspected of firing the weapon
escaped.

PCHR is deeply concerned by the increase of incidents of
this kind, which are indicative of the state of security chaos and misuse of
weapons in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. PCHR calls upon the
Attorney-General to seriously investigate them and bring the perpetrators to
justice.