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Press Release: Al Mezan condemns the escalating violence between disputing families in Gaza, and calls on local authorities to uphold the rule of law

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26 September 2020 |Reference 60/2020

The Gaza Strip has witnessed an alarming rise in violent family disputes and retaliatory attacks, resulting in casualties and damage to properties. 

 

In the most recent incident, a dispute broke out on Friday evening, 25 September 2020, in Al-Shujaiya neighborhood, east Gaza City. Al Mezan’s field investigation shows that the dispute broke out at approximately 8pm between members of two families and turned violent with reported use of firearms. As a result, four persons sustained injuries, one of whom is in serious condition. The police launched an investigation and made several arrests.  

 

In a separate incident, a late-night exchange of fire between two families in Khan Younis, on Tuesday, 22 September 2020, left three people, including two children, injured with gunshot and shrapnel wounds. Five police officers were also injured while breaking up the dispute as the disorderly crowds threw stones at them. One officer reportedly sustained a severe skull injury and was admitted to the intensive care unit at Nasser Hospital, where all other casualties were transferred.  

 

Multiple similar incidents involving the use of firearms and white arms were recorded in the last few days, leaving a number of people wounded and resulting in damage to private properties.

 

Al Mezan is alarmed by the resurgence of this type of incidents that gravely undermine the safety and security of the population, and calls on the local authorities to take serious measures, in particular to urgently limit the proliferation of small arms and light weapons. Al Mezan calls on the relevant authorities to uphold the rule of law and prevent parties to a dispute from taking the law into their own hands. The authorities must launch a prompt, comprehensive and credible investigation into the tragic events and hold perpetrators to account through a sound legal process. 

 

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