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Press release, Palestinian Center For Human Rights (PCHR) –
Gaza: 19 Palestinians, Including Two Children, Killed and at Least
70 Others Wounded in Shameful Bloody Clashes between Hamas and Fatah
Movements
IMEMC
 PCHR strongly condemns internal fighting between Hamas and
Fatah movements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT),
especially the Gaza Strip, which has killed 19 persons, including 8
civilian bystanders, and wounded at least 70 others. PCHR calls upon
the leaders of the two movements and all other nationalist and
Islamic factions to make sincere efforts to contain and stop such
regrettable and shameful fighting, go back to dialogue and put
higher national interests of the Palestinian people above all narrow
partisan interests and political conflict over authority. PCHR
stresses that dialogue is the only option, and the current internal
fighting is a prescription for self-destruction.
According to investigations conducted by PCHR, bloody clashes
have renewed between the two sides since Thursday evening, 25
January 2007, when unknown persons detonated an explosive device on
the roadside when a vehicle of the Executive Force of the Ministry
of Interior (EF) was passing in Jabalya town in the northern Gaza
Strip. As a result of the attack, which occurred in a
densely-populated area, the vehicle was destroyed and 8 members of
the EF and 4 passing persons, including two children, were wounded.
Later, Hussam ‘Abdul Malek Mtai, 36, a member of the EF from
Jabalya, who was wounded in the attack, was pronounced dead. On
Friday, 26 January 2007, another member of the EF, Mousa Taha
‘Asaliya, 18, was also pronounced dead.
At approximately 01:30 on Friday, 26 January 2007, a number
of armed members of Hamas and the EF stormed a house belonging to
Nabeel Hasan al-Jarjeer, 25, a member of Fatah movement in Jabalya
town, accusing him of responsibility for the attack on the EF
vehicle. They shot al-Jarjeer dead with a bullet to the head. They
also violently beat his brother, 33-year-old Nahedh. He sustained
bruises throughout the body.
Soon after, clashes erupted near a house belonging to Sameeh
al-Madhoun, a member of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades (the armed wing
of Fatah movement) in Beit Lahia town in the northern Gaza Strip. In
a later development, al-Madhoun abducted a number of members of
Hamas and held them inside his house, which he had already fortified
and blocked all roads leading to it with cement blocks and sand
barriers. As a result of the exchange of fire, two civilian
bystanders, including a girl, were wounded:
1) Saleh Jameel Matar, 28, wounded by a live bullet to
the abdomen; and
2) Fatema Nafez Qa’oud, 17, wounded by a live bullet to
the left hand.
At approximately 10:30 also on Friday, a number of gunmen
opened fire at a vehicle belonging to Hamas, which was calling
through loudspeakers for organizing a demonstration in Jabalya town.
The driver, Ra’ed Rjab Subeh, 27, from Beit Lahia, who is a member
of Hamas, was seriously wounded by a live bullet to the chest. He
was later pronounced dead. Another person who was traveling in the
vehicle, 23-year-old Younis Rabee’ Abu Jabal, sustained injuries and
bruises throughout the body as the vehicle turned over when it was
fired at.
Clashes and mutual kidnappings between members of Hamas and
Fatah movements continued. An armed group of Hamas chased a member
of Fatah movement, 20-year-old Shadi Saleh Quddas, in Beit Lahia
town and he fled to a police station. The armed group attempted to
kidnap him from the police station, but things were settled. A
police officer, 30-year-old Yousef Ahmed Hawila, was wounded by a
bullet to the left foot unleashed unintentionally from his
colleague’s gun.
 At approximately 13:50 also on Friday, armed members of
‘Izziddin al-Qassam Brigades (the armed wing of Hamas) and the EF,
besieged the house of Mansour Shalayel, a member of Fatah movement,
in Jabalya refugee camp, accusing him of responsibility for the
aforementioned attack on the vehicle that was calling for organizing
a demonstration for Hamas. Violent clashes took place between dozens
of gunmen who deployed around the house on one side and Shalayel and
some gunmen who were inside the house on the other side. As a result
of those clashes, two civilian bystanders were killed:
1) Fu’ad ‘Abdul Mahdi al-Khaldi, 17, hit by several live
bullets to the head and the chest; and
2) Ziad Isma’il Abi Zaid, 25, hit by a live bullet to
the chest.
At approximately 21:30 on Friday, the bodies of 3 persons who
were killed in clashes near Shalayel’s house were brought to Kamal
‘Edwan Hospital in Beit Lahia town. Two of them were identified as
Ahmed Saleh Salah, 20, and Sharaf Salama Abu Wadi, 22, both are
members of the EF. They were hit by several gunshots throughout the
body. The third person has not been identified.
At approximately 22:00, several units of the Palestinian
National Security Forces and the Naval Police moved from the site of
the Third Brigade, east of Jabalya refugee camp, towards the area of
clashes near Shalayel’s house and were able to lift the siege
imposed on the house. They were also able to take shalayel and his
family out of the house, which had been under heavy gunfire.
At approximately 00:30 on Saturday, 27 January 2007, Mohammed
Ghaleb al-Skani, 25, a member of the National Security Forces from
Gaza City, was killed by live bullet to the back from an unknown
source, when he was on duty at the southern entrance of Beit Hanoun
town. It is worth noting that several areas in the Gaza Strip
witnessed armed clashes at the time.
The number of persons wounded in the bloody clashes in the
northern Gaza Strip was 57, including a number of bystanders.
The clashes in the northern Gaza Strip extended to Gaza City.
At approximately 15:00 on Friday, Brigadier Jihad ‘Abdul Ra’ouf
Srhan, 58, of the National Security Forces, was wounded by a bullet
to the right leg. Sarhan told PCHR that he was traveling in his car
with his bodyguard on Salah al-Din road, east of Gaza City, when a
number of masked gunmen intercepted the car and fired at him as he
refused to obey their order for him to get out of the car.
At approximately 18:20 also on Friday, a number of unknown
gunmen broke into al-Hedaya Hospital in Tal al-Hawa neighborhood in
the southwest of Gaza City, and opened fire at all those who were in
the mosque listening to a preach. Three persons were killed:
1) Eihab Suleiman Hammouda, 22;
2) Mas’oud Jamal Shamallakh, 22; and
3) Zuhair Mahmoud al-Mansi, 40, a prominent leader of
Hamas.
Four other persons were wounded:
1) Sa’id Jamal Shamallakh, 20, wounded by several
bullets to the legs;
2) Muneer Qassem al-Meenawi, 27, wounded by a bullet to
the right side;
3) Mo’taz Jamal Jamal Abu Ras, 20, wounded by two
bullets to the right leg and the left thigh; and
4) Mohammed Mansour Sa’da, 17, wounded by several
bullets to the legs.
The gunmen also kidnapped Mohammed al-Hussein al-Berniya, 24.
At approximately 21:30, armed clashes erupted between members
of the Preventive Security Service (PSS) and those of the EF near
the headquarters of the PSS in Tal al-Hawa neighborhood. A civilian
bystander, 20-year-old Ra’fat Daoud Toutah, was killed by a gunshot
to the head.
At approximately 22:00 on the same day, unknown persons fired
a projectile at the house of Dr. Mahmoud al-Zahhar, Palestinian
Foreign Minister, in al-Sabra neighborhood in Gaza City. At
approximately 22:20, unknown persons fired two projectiles at the
house of Rasheed Abu Shibak, Director-General of the Internal
Security Service and former commander of the PSS, in Tal al-Hawa
neighborhood. Approximately 10 minutes later, unknown persons
launched 3 mortars at the headquarters of the PSS in Tal al-Hawa
neighborhood. No casualties were reported as a result of the three
attacks.
At approximately 23:15 on Friday, unknown gunmen shot dead
Lieutenant Colonel, Kamal Hasan Khalil, for the Special Security
Bureau, when was traveling in his car near al-Samer intersection in
the center of Gaza City.
At approximately 00:30 on Saturday, 27 January 2007, armed
clashes erupted again between members of the PSS and those of the EF
in Tal al-Hawa neighborhood. A member of the EF, 22-year-old Hammam
Taha al-Sha’er, was killed, and 3 members of the PSS were wounded.
At approximately 11:00 also on Saturday, medical sources at
Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, declared that Mahmoud Khalil
al-Khattat, 18, died from a wound he had sustained at 08:30.
Al-Khattat was seriously wounded by a gunshot to the head during
armed clashes between members of the National Security Force and
those of Hamas in al-Shojaeya neighborhood in the east of Gaza City.
Clashes in the Gaza Strip had their echo in the West Bank. At
approximately 15:30 on Friday, an armed group of the al-Aqsa Martyrs
Brigades (the armed wing of Fatah movement), kidnapped 7 children
and their teacher of al-Qastal Scout in Balata refugee camp, east of
Nablus, when they were in Kufor Qallil village, southeast of the
city. Members of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade declared in a media
release that the abducted persons are members of the EF and
threatened to kill them if the siege imposed on Shalayel’s house in
the Gaza Strip was not lifted. The abducted persons were released on
Saturday morning. At approximately 22:30 on Friday, a number of
masked gunmen stormed a house belonging to ‘Aamer ‘Omar Sha’bello,
24, in al-Dahia area in Nablus. They asked him about his brother,
who studies abroad. They then kidnapped him.
In Khan Yunis, at approximately 16:30 on Friday, 2.5-year-old
Yahia Ibrahim Madhi, was killed by mistake by a bullet to the head.
According to his father, the child was playing near the family home
when members of the Popular Army, who guard areas on which Israeli
settlement had stood in the past, fired at 4 vehicles of security
forces, thinking that the vehicles were belonging to the EF.
PCHR strongly condemns bloody internal fighting, and:
1. Reminds all nationalist and Islamic factions of their
role and duty to serve the interests of the Palestinian people and
protect civilians, rather than being a burden that threatens the
safety and security of people.
2. Calls upon the two fighting parties to stop fighting
and immediately go back to dialogue to reach a national agreement,
and believes that such shameful fighting emphasizes the urgent need
for dialogue.
3. Expresses regret for the current Palestinian internal
situation, one year following the parliamentary election which were
highly praised by the world and constituted a positive step in the
process of peaceful transition of authority in the past two years.
4. Calls for the establishment of a judicial
investigation committee to investigate all incidents in the past
weeks and bring all those engaged in them to justice.
5. Calls for reform in Palestinian security services and
restructure them on professional foundations to serve as law
enforcement forces that have the duty of protecting the safety and
security of people, and to ensure that they will never be
politicized or engage in any partisan conflicts.
6. Reminds that the only party interested in the
continuation of lawlessness and internal fighting in the OPT is
Israel, which persistently continues to reinforce its occupation of
the OPT through settlement expansion, land confiscation, the
construction of the Annexation Wall and create irreversible facts on
the ground that will ensure the annexation of most of the OPT and
undermine any possibility of establishing a viable Palestinian
state.
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