Al Mezan Condemns Increased Killings in Gaza; Calls for Investigations in the Murder of Two People

The Gaza Strip has witnessed increasing number of victims of criminal acts that caused losses of life and property.
Two Palestinians; including a policeman, have been killed and eleven others injured in recent clashes, while explosives targeted a restaurant and a café.
Armed men broke into a journalist's house and seized his laptop and mobile phone.
Masked armed man also seized a jeep owned by a director of the Ministry of Local Government while political arrests continued to occur.
According to Al Mezan's field investigations, at approximately 10.
40am on Wednesday 7 November 2007, a police force opened fire at the funeral of 29-year-old Rami Salama, who died from critical wounds he had sustained in previous armed clashes between Hamas the Islamic Jihad in the southern Gaza town of Rafah on Sunday 21 October 2007.
According to eyewitnesses, the police opened fire at the funeral as young participants threw stones at the Tal As-Sultan police station.
24-year-old Tahsin Al Bouji was killed from the police fire, and three others were critically injured.
At approximately 12.
30pm on Tuesday, 6 November 2007, eight masked men broke into the house of the journalist Hisham Saqallah, the director of Ar-Rasid news bulletin in Gaza City.
They presented a search order and started to search the house.
Saqallah said that one of them logged on to his laptop and reviewed some files.
They left after seizing the laptop, mobile phone, and CDs.
At approximately1.
45pm on the same day, four armed men stopped 49-year-old Ahmad Ali Ben Said, who is a general director at the Ministry of Local Government, as he was driving his jeep south of Al Maghazi Refugee Camp in middle Gaza.
They forced him into their car and drove towards Al Maghzi Camp.
One of them drove Ben Said's jeep.
The man jumped from the moving car and sustained injuries in his leg as a result.
In the town of Khan Younis, a police force broke into the house of Husam Abu Slaiyh in Ma'an neighborhood at approximately 4.
30pm, Tuesday.
Dozens of Fatah activists were meeting in Abu Suleih's house.
One of them told Al Mezan that they were working on preparations for Fatah elections in the neighborhood.
The police arrested four of them: 35-year-old Wail Al Ghalban; 32-year-old Anwar Al Ghalban; 29-year-old Husam Al Ghalban; and 36-year-old Husam Faisal Abu Jazar.
At approximately 1.
40am on Monday 5 November 2007, masked men detonated an explosive device at the entrance of the ‘Big Bite’ restaurant in Gaza City.
The explosion caused damages to the restaurant, but no injuries were reported.
No information concerning the identity of the perpetrators or their motives has been released.
At approximately 6.
30pm on the same day, a feud started between two families in Ashijai'ya neighborhood, east of Gaza City, in which small arms were used.
When the police arrived at the scene, they were trapped in crossfire.
One policeman, 20-year-old Hamada Bahloul, was killed and another was injured.
Seven members from the two families were injured in this incident.
Al Mezan Center for Human Rights expresses its deep concern by the increased number of the victims of internal violence in Gaza.
The above mentioned incidents manifest a steady return to the state of insecurity in Gaza; especially as many of these incidents go unchecked.
The Center strongly condemns the breach of journalists privacy.
It calls for a serious investigation into these incidents, particularly those involving murder.
The Center asserts the necessity to ensure the observance of the legal process by all law enforcement personnel, particularly as far as the use of force is involved.
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