Field Update

Early this morning, unknown persons raided the
Palestinian Liaison Office near Beit Hanoun (Erez) crossing in the northern
Gaza Strip. The perpetrators damaged the
contents of the offices. This incident
constitutes part of the state of security chaos plaguing the Occupied
Palestinian Territories (OPT). 

According to investigations conducted by the
Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), in the early morning hours of Friday,
09 July 2010, unknown persons raided the Palestinian Liaison Office, northwest
of Beit Hanoun, in the northern Gaza Strip. The thus far unidentified perpetrators vandalized the contents of the
offices, destroyed documents and stole two mobile phones. They used the copying machine in the offices
to copy documents relating to the travel coordination of several medical
patients and their escorts. One of the
employees of the raided office stated that he went to work with his colleagues
at 07:30, when the group was surprised to find the two gates leading to the
office open. The door of their office,
which is located inside a metal container, was also open. The employees also noticed that iron bars
protecting a window in the northern part of the office had been broken. The glass of a refrigerator used to keep
drinks in the waiting hall was broken and the contents of the refrigerator had
been stolen. Palestinian police arrived at the scene and opened an
investigation into the incident. 

It should be noted that the Palestinian Liaison
Office is affiliated with the Ministry of Civil Affairs in Ramallah and specializes
in coordinating the travel of medical patients and other Gaza residents in and
out of the Gaza Strip via Beit Hanoun (Erez) crossing, which is located to the
north of the Palestinian police checkpoint of the Palestinian Ministry of
Interior in Gaza. 

PCHR
condemns this incident, which constitutes part of the state of security chaos
plaguing the OPT, and demands that the government in Gaza take all necessary
measures to prevent the occurrence of such incidents and to bring the
perpetrators to justice.