August 11, 2014

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) strongly condemns the killing of Anwar al-Za’anin, a staff member of Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, by an Israeli drone in the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun. PCHR calls for investigating this crime and hundreds of other crimes committed by Israeli occupation forces during the ongoing Israeli offensive that have targeted Palestinian civilians and their property.

According to investigations conducted by Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, at approximately 13:20 on Sunday, 10 August 2014, Anwar Ahmed al-Za’anin, 43, was standing near a number of maintenance workers of Beit Hanoun Municipality, whom he called to repair the water network near his house in al-Qaraman Street, which was damaged by an Israeli attack. As the workers were repairing the network, an Israeli drone fired at least one missile at them. As a result, al-Za’anin was seriously wounded and 2 workers were moderately wounded: Majdi Mousa Shabat, 41; and Sofian Khalil Abu Harbid, 40. They were all evacuated to the hospital, but al-Za’anin succumbed to his wound.

While PCHR expresses deep sadness for al-Za’anin’s death and passes condolences to his family and to al-Mezan Center for Human Rights, it strongly condemns this crime which targeted unarmed civilians while carrying out their job. PCHR calls upon the international community to investigate this and other crimes committed by Israeli forces against unarmed Palestinian civilians in the context of the ongoing offensive on the Gaza Strip, and prosecute the perpetrators. PCHR further stresses that the international silence towards war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Israeli forces, and the international community’s failure to hold Israel accountable for them encourage Israeli forces to commit more of such crimes.