PCHR & Al-Mezan Call for Investigating the Explosion in El-Bureij Refugee
Camp

Date: 18 February 2008

PCHR & Al-Mezan Call for Investigating the Explosion in El-Bureij Refugee
Camp

PCHR and Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights call for an investigation into the
explosion that destroyed a house in El-Bureij refugee camp, resulting in the
death of 8 people, including 5 children, and injury of dozens. The Centre
calls for publicizing the results of the investigation.

At approximately 20:50 on Friday, 15 February, a huge explosion rocked
El-Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip. The explosion occurred in
the house of Ayman Atallah Ahmad Fayed (41), an activist in Al-Quds
Battalions, the armed wing of Islamic Jihad. The explosion destroyed the
ground-floor concrete house completely, killing the activist, his wife Marwa
Azzam Fayed (39), and three of his children: Basma (12), Ali (17), and
Ayyoub (5). A fourth son, Adam (15) was seriously injured. In addition,
three of Fayed's neighbors were killed: Zakaria Nabil El-Kefafi (17) who was
in Fayed's house at the time, Talal Salah Sa'id Abu El-Oun (16), and Atallah
Samir Mohammad Ismail (24). Approximately 60 people were injured, including
23 women and 20 children. Among the injured are 14 people suffering serious
injuries. The explosion destroyed 6 nearby houses completely, and caused
extensive destruction in 10 other houses. Dozens of houses suffered
damages.

Over the past three days, PCHR and Al-Mezan have conducted a preliminary
investigation in this tragedy. The Center's fieldworkers and lawyer gathered
field information and eyewitness testimonies from the scene of the tragedy.
The preliminary findings point to the following:
- There is no evidence to confirm that the explosion was caused by
rocket or aerial bombardment by Israeli occupation forces (IOF), as
mentioned in some media outlets. It is more likely that it was an internal
explosion the circumstances of which are unclear as of yet. Eyewitnesses
confirmed seeing smoke and fire issue from Fayed's house seconds before the
explosion. According to similar incidents in the past, this indicates that
it may have been an internal explosion.
- The cause of the explosion is not clear. It is unknown if it was
triggered by a mistake if the preparation and/or storage of a large
explosive device; or if IOF are involving through planting a booby-trapped
explosive device inside the house.
- PCHR holds documentation of previous incidents in both directions:
+ IOF have been involved in several assassinations of Palestinian
activists using booby-trapped explosive devices that caused casualties and
destruction on a large scale. Furthermore, the Israeli Defense Minister Ehud
Barak stated recently that his forces are engaged in secret operations in
the Gaza Strip without specifying the nature of these operations.
+ Internal explosions have occurred in residential houses in
heavily-populated houses due to errors in the manufacture or storage of
explosives, which killed a large number of civilians and destroyed several
houses.

In light of these developments, PCHR and Al-Mezan:
- Reiterate the call for a thorough investigation into the
explosion, and for publishing the results of this investigation.
- Affirm that the biggest losers in this tragedy are the Palestinian
civilians who were killed, injured, terrorized, and suffered the destruction
of their property.
- Regardless of the cause of this explosion, both organizations
point to the danger of storage of explosives in residential areas by
Palestinian resistance groups, which threatens the lives of Palestinian
civilians in violation of human rights and International Humanitarian Law.
This erroneous practice must stop! And its threat becomes more serious in of
the continuous IOF threats.

Palestinian Centre for Human Rights
Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights