The Palestinian Centre for Human
Rights (PCHR) has documented several incidents of security chaos in the Gaza
Strip over the past forty eight hours. These include a raid on the American
School in Gaza, the killing of a naval police officer by unknown persons, the
injury of 3 members of the Izzedeen El-Qassam Battalions in a training accident,
the injury of 2 policemen by the explosive device planted by unknown persons,
and the death of one man in an armed clash between rival clans.
At approximately 22:00 on
Friday, 11 January, two policemen were moderately injured by a roadside bomb
planted near the police headquarters in the central Gaza Strip. Meflih Abu
Hujayer (20), and Mohammad Hammou (21) both sustained shrapnel wounds, and were
transferred to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital for treatment.
According to investigations
carried out by PCHR, at approximately 02:00 on Saturday, 12 January, several
masked gunmen broke into the American School in northern Gaza City. They
detained the school security guard and stole computers and other equipment from
the school. Before leaving, they set fire to 5 buses and a car belonging to the
school. The American school had also been attacked 3 days earlier, on January 9th,
when unidentified gunmen fired a rocket-propelled grenade at the school, causing
substantial damage.
At approximately 08:30 on
Saturday, 12 January, the body of Sha’ban Salem Dughmush (39) from Sabra
neighborhood in Gaza City was found in the Juhr El-Deek area of the central Gaza
Strip. Dughmush worked in the Naval Police Department of the Government in Gaza.
Medical sources stated he was killed by a gunshot to the head. Police spokesman,
Islam Shehwan, stated that the police have opened an investigation into his
death.
At approximately 09:00 on the
same morning, three members of Izzedeen El-Qassam Battalions, the armed wing of
Hamas, were injured by shrapnel, following the explosion of a projectile during
training in land previously occupied by the Israeli Nitzarim settlement, south
of Gaza City. The three men sustained moderate injuries, and were transferred to
Shifa Hospital in Gaza city.
In the early morning hours of
Saturday, 12 January, Sami Salman El-Rawgh (33) was shot dead during an armed
clash between El-Rawagh and Abu Harb clans in a Bedouin village in the northern
Gaza Strip. He was pronounced dead upon arrival at Kamal Odwan Hospital in Beit
Lahia.
PCHR is extremely concerned
about the continual death toll in Gaza due to the misuse of weapons. The Centre
reiterates its call to the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), represented by
the Attorney-General, to seriously investigate these crimes and to prosecute the
perpetrators.
