11 Killed, Including Two Children, and 42 Injured, Al Mezan Calls For Investigation into the Use of Deadly Force in al-Sabra

At around 16:00 on Monday, 15 September 2008, the Palestinian Police in Gaza launched a campaign against a number of so-called wanted persons, who belong to the Doghmush clan in al-Sabra neighborhood.
The campaign was launched a few hours after a policeman, Abelkareem Adel Khzeig, 20, was killed and the Head of the CID at al-Abbas Police Station, Saleh Fuad Kehail, 38, was injured while attempting to arrest Jameel Doghmush inside the Gaza Municipality headquarters at around 11:00am on Monday.
According to field investigations carried out by the Center, a large number of police and security forces surrounded the area and started searching the houses.
After negotiations with the wanted persons had failed, security forces attacked a number of houses, where they were fortified, near the Doghmush Gas Station at the end of al-Mughrabi Street.
The wanted persons are Jamil Farouq Doghmush, his brother, Ibrahim, and Saeb Doghmush.
A fierce gun battle took place at dawn on Tuesday, 16 September 20089.
Shells were fired on residential houses in the targeted area.
Other shells were fired from the targeted area and fell away from the clash area.
The police announced the campaign was over at around 7:00am on Tuesday, 16 September 2008.
According to medical resources and victims’ relatives, a policeman, 21-year-old Sameh Mahmoud el-Naji, was killed as well as ten persons of the Doghmush clan.
They are one-year-old Ahmad Mahmoud Doghmush, 23-year-old Jamil Farouq Doghmush (shot in his abdomen and chest), and his three brothers, 16-year-old Ibrahim (shot in the head and chest), 16-year-old Yousif (shot in the chest) and 21-year-old Muhammad (shot in the head, chest and legs), 23-year-old Saeb Akram Doghmush (shot in the chest), and his brother, 19-year-old Muhammad (shot in the chest), 25-year-old Faraj Muein Doghmush (shot in the head), 25-year-old Abid Zaki Doghmush (shot in the head, lacerated legs) and 19-year-old Muhammad Mahmoud Doghmush (shot in the neck and lower limps).
42 persons suffered different injuries in this campaign.
Medical resources at al-Shifa Hospital said 9 suffered serious injuries.
16 persons of the injured are of the Doghmush clan and 8 were civilians residing in the same neighborhood.
The rest of the injured were police and security personnel.
Field research resources monitored the damage of a number of residential houses and civilian property.
Al Mezan Center for Human Rights asserts the right of the police and security forces to practice their role of law enforcement and pursue wanted persons.
The Center expresses its sorrow for this large number of victims, including two children, and shelling and shooting at houses.
The Center condemns what it believes to be a use of excessive, deadly force, which inflicted a large number of victims and damaged property for the sake of arresting wanted persons.
Al Mezan Center calls the government in Gaza to open an investigation and monitor its personnel assigned to enforce the law and how they observe the law while carrying out their duty.
The government is called to monitor the use of force and how necessary and proportionate it is, compared with the other party.
The Center asserts that enforcing the law does not only rely on violence and force; however, there are procedures and rules regulating the work of law enforcement personnel.
Non-compliance to such regulations and rules results in marginalizing the law and inflicting more victims.
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