Ref: 90/2022

Date: 15 June 2022

Time: 10:00 GMT

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) follows up with deep concern the outgrowing manifestations of internal violence in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) as 4 shootings and attacks were reported over the past few days on grounds of family disputes in the Gaza Strip and West Bank.  These incidents are indicative of the state of weapon proliferation and assault on the rule of law in the occupied Palestinian territory and collected the lives of 4 Palestinians, including a girl, and caused injury of 15 others, including 5 children. 

The latest of those incidents occurred in the Gaza Strip yesterday evening when a 40-year-old man and a girl were killed and 15 persons, including 5 children, were wounded.  According to PCHR’s investigations, at around 19:55 on Thursday, 14 July 2022, a person opened fire at the house of ‘Abdel ‘Aziz “Mohammed Khalil” Jamil Dardonah (46) in Jabalia, northern Gaza Strip, killing the house’s owner with a bullet in the head and 9-year-old Yasmin Ahmed Mahmoud Dardonah with a bullet in the chest.  Also, 15 others, including 5 children, were injured with bullets and shrapnel, and the injury of 11-year-old Rahaf Isma’il Yaser al-Henawi was reported serious.  Rahaf was injured with a bullet in the chest when she was passing by the targeted house.  Others’ injuries ranged between mild and moderate.

Spokesperson of Police in Gaza, Ayman al-Batniji, said that the police took control of the situation and opened a prompt investigation.  He later stated that the police could arrest the suspect of the shooting identified as (J. Q.) (26) and confiscated the weapon used in the incident. The Spokesperson added, “the initial investigations showed that the perpetrator killed his father-in-law on grounds of a family dispute between them while another girl was killed in the same shooting. Meanwhile, legal proceedings of the case are in process.”

According to the field updates, the suspect works with the police as well as deceased Dardonah who works for the municipality police.

In a separate incident in Jenin at around 00:30 on Thursday, 14 July 2022, gunmen opened fire at Yahia Mohammed Yousif Jaradat (45) in al-Jaradat neighborhood in Silet al-Harithiya, western Jenin, and seriously wounded him in the abdomen and legs.  As a result, he was taken for treatment to Ibn Sinai Hospital in Jenin, where he was pronounced dead at around 08:00.

The police opened an investigation into the incident and the initial investigations showed that the shooting was on grounds of previous family disputes, and the shooters are duly pursued.

In Jenin as well, the Palestinian police declared on Tuesday morning, 11 July 2022, that they received a report of a dead body found in ‘Ejjah village, southern Jenin.  A police patrol arrived at one of the houses and pulled the body of Radi Rashed ‘Amriyah (46) after searching for him.  The police arrested members of his family and opened an investigation into the incident.

According to the police’s initial investigations, one of the deceased’s sons opened fire at him on grounds of a family dispute and then buried him in the house yard after placing concrete on him, noting that the crime was committed 12 days ago.  The police declared that they arrested another person who brought the murder weapon to reenact the crime, and the investigations are still in due process.

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PCGR expresses its concern towards the continued incidents of weapon proliferation and denounces the use of firearms in family and personal disputes, a matter that poses a real threat to life and civil peace in Palestine.

PCHR also demands effective steps to ensure non-use of police and security services’ firearms in family disputes, end the state of weapons proliferation, and impose the rule of law, for the sake of civil peace, particularly in light of recurrent murder crimes that collected lives of many victims in the oPt.