NOVANEWS
The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) is concerned over the death of a child and the injuries of 3 children from the al-Danaf family as a home-made rocket landed near their houses in Beit Lahia while they were playing. Moreover, PCHR is concerned over the injuries of 3 civilians, including 2 children, in two similar incidents in the past two weeks. PCHR calls upon the government in Gaza to open a serious investigation into the circumstances of these incidents and take necessary measures to protect the Palestinian civilians and their property.
According to investigations conducted by PCHR, at approximately 19:30 on Tuesday, 24 June 2014, 4 children from the al-Danaf family, from al-Atatrah are in the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Lahia, sustained shrapnel wounds as a home-made rocket landed near them while they were playing. They children who were evacuated to Kamal Edwan were identified as:
1. Jood Muhammad Hasan al-Danaf (2), who sustained shrapnel wounds to the chest and head;
2. Amal Muhammed Hasan al-Danaf (5), who sustained shrapnel wounds to the chest and head;
3. Muhammad Ali Hasan al-Danaf (2), who sustained shrapnel wounds throughout his body, and;
4. Hasan Ali Hasan a-Danaf (5), who sustained shrapnel wounds to his head.
The children were transferred to Shifa Hospital in Gaza City where Jood’s wounds were described as serious. At approximately 22:00, medical sources declared that Jood died of her wounds.
The Palestinian police and the Drug Control Unit arrived at the area and initiated an investigation into the incident. They also collected the rocket’s shrapnel from the scene.
At approximately 15:00 on Sunday, 22 June 2014, Ghazi Rafat Abu Warda (10), from Jablaia, was brought Kamal Edwan Hospital in Beit Lahia as he sustained shrapnel wounds to his right leg as home-made rocket landed near him while he was playing in an agricultural land belonging to his family in Beit Lahia. Medical sources described the aforementioned child’s wounds as minor.
It should be noted that on 14 June 2014, Mahasen Ibrahim Abu Ghazal (21) and Aliaa Jalal Abu Ghazal (16), both from Beith Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip, sustained shrapnel wounds throughout their bodies as a home-made rocket landed on a house belonging to Jalal Abdullah Abu Ghazal.
In light of the above, PCHR:
1. Calls upon the government in Gaza to seriously investigate the circumstances of these incidents and take the necessary measures to protect the Palestinian civilians and their property; and
2. Stresses the importance of taking the necessary measures to protect the lives of civilians and spare them any harm in accordance with the international humanitarian law standards.
