Palestinian Center for Human Rights 27 February 2007
Palestinian women attend a protest calling for an end to the internal fighting between Hamas and Fatah, in the southern Gaza Strip, 31 January 2007. (MaanImages/Hatem Omar)
PCHR strongly condemns the killing of three women from Gaza City during the past 24 hours, in three separate crimes that took place under similar circumstances. The Centre calls upon the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), represented by the Attorney General, to seriously investigate these crimes, and bring the perpetrators to justice.
PCHR’s preliminary investigation indicates that at approximately 22:15 on Monday, 26 February 2007, people found the body of a female in the Salatin area, west of Beit Lahia. They informed the police, who came to the scene with an ambulance. The body was taken to Kamal Odwan Hospital in Beit Lahia, where the identity of body was determined to be that of Ibtisam Mohammad Musallam Abu Qeinas (31-year-old from Ghefari Quarter in Gaza City). The body was transferred to the forensic medicine department at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. Medical sources stated that the death was caused by multiple bullets to the body.
At approximately 23:30 on the same day, the body of Samira Tahani El-Debeiky (45-year-old woman from Daraj Quarter in Gaza City) was found in the same area where the first body was found. The body was taken to Kamal Odwan Hospital, and from there to the forensic medicine department at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, where the identity was verified. El-Debeiky was killed by multiple bullets to the chest and abdomen. The victim’s husband informed PCHR’s fieldworker that he last saw his wife at 17:00 on the same day, when she went out to shop.
At approximately 6:00 on Tuesday, 27 February 2007, the body of another women, Amani Khamis El-Hosari (40), was found in Nafaq Street near Sheikh Radwan Quarter in Gaza City. Medical sources stated that el-Hosari was killed by two bullets to the head. Her son, Shadi Ghazal, a policeman, informed PCHR’s fieldworker that at 00:30 in the morning gunmen stormed their house and identified themselves as policemen. They kidnapped his mother after beating other house residents. They also fired three bullets in the house.
PCHR strongly condemns these crimes, and:
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