During the last two days, five civilians, including four children, were injured as two suspicious objects blew up in two separate incidents in Beit Hanoun, in the northern Gaza Strip, and Qalqilia, in the northern West Bank. Two of the injured children sustained serious injuries.According to investigations conducted by the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), at approximately 09:20 on Monday, 05 July 2010, three civilians, including two children, were injured in their farm in Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza as a suspicious object blew up. The injured are:
1. Adnan Mohammed al-Za’anin, 38;
2. Mohammed Abdul Jabbar al-Za’anin, 17; and
3. Sufian al-Za’anin, 9.
According to statements given by one of the injured to the PCHR fieldworker, he was with members from his family plowing their farm when they found an iron conical object.
The object, which was under a tree, was connected to an iron bar. While they were plowing the farm, the plow hit the object, which blew up, injuring three people who were at the scene. The injured were transferred to Beit Hanoun Governmental Hospital where doctors described their injuries to range from light to moderate.
In a similar incident on Sunday, 04 July 2010 in Qalqilia, Mohammed Abdullah Sabri, 6, and Ibrahim Wasfi Melhem, 14, sustained serious injuries as a suspicious object blew up near them. They two children were playing with fire in a farm. The fire caused the object to explode.
The two children sustained burns and injuries and were transported to Dr. Darwish Nazzal Governmental hospital for medical treatment.
They were then transferred to an Israeli hospital because their injuries were serious. Sources from the police stressed that primary investigations indicate that the explosion was caused by a homemade explosive as the explosion took place in an area which is under the control of the Palestinian security services (Zone A).
PCHR calls upon the office of the Prosecutor General to open investigations into the two incidents and to make the results available to the public. The centre also demands the concerned authorities to take necessary measures to ensure non-occurrence of such incidents.
