61 I. ‐ The Right to Life ICHR recorded the killing of (126) citizens in Palestine areas during 2010.58 The killings were distributed as (76) cases in the Gaza Strip, (including 33 deaths in the tunnels) and (50) cases in the West Bank. Among these cases there were (21) children (11 children in the West Bank, and 10 children in the Gaza Strip), and (15) women (7 women in the West Bank, and 8 women in the Gaza Strip).59 This year has seen a significant decrease in murder cases in general, compared with the number of cases registered by ICHR in 2009. The number of murder cases recorded by ICHR in 2009 reached (236) cases. 1 ‐ Background to Murders Recorded by ICHR Some (50) murder cases occurred in the West Bank in 2010. The primary backgrounds on which the killings were based varied. A total of (20) murder cases were based on family quarrels and disputes, constituting 16% of the total number of deaths registered. A total of (25) murder cases were registered with the same background, constituting 11% of the total number of deaths in that year. This indicates the continued occurrence of murders sharing the background of quarrels, revenge and other family matters, and also at relatively high rates. Also one murder case was recorded in the West Bank as a result of the misuse of weapons by law enforcement officials this year. ICHR had monitored two murder cases with the same background in 2009, and recorded one murder case as a result of the misuse of weapons by citizens in the West Bank. This can be compared to three murder cases with the same background in 2009. The number of murder cases whose circumstances remained vague increased to (14) cases in 2010 (11% of the registered cases), compared with (10) cases in 2009 (4% of the registered cases). Despite the high number of deaths taking place with the reasons remaining unknown in this year, public prosecutors and judicial services did not disclose any proceedings or investigations taken in these incidents with the aim of revealing the reasons for emitting them, and holding 58 For more details on cases of murder, including geographical distribution, background to the killing, and demographic information, see Annex 1 & 2. 59 It should be noted that three cases of death were female children, two in the West Bank and one in the Gaza Strip.