committed while they were in a house of the Journalist (A.A) in Deir Al-Balah doing their work
in covering the events related to the Movement We Want to Live. They were taken to the street and
assaulted by dozens of security men with sticks and punches, despite their knowledge that they
work for the ICHR. They were transferred to the hospital and attempts were made to arrest them
while they were receiving treatment.32 Added to the above the arbitrary detention and summoning
of human rights defenders, most notably the detention by the police in Gaza, on 16/3/2019, of four
human rights defenders, affiliated with the human rights organizations operating in the Gaza Strip
(Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights and Al-Dameer
Foundation for Human Rights). The arrest was during a field tour they conducted to the east of the
Shejaiya neighborhood, east of Gaza City. They were released after about two hours of detention.
In addition to the suspension from work and the referral for investigation of human rights
defenders, the most noted violation was the arrest of three citizens, on May 14, 2019. The arrest
was on grounds of their trade union activity in defense of the rights of public employees and
peaceful assembly, in protest against the delay in the payment of salaries of public employees in
Gaza and to demand that they be paid promptly, where dozens of them participated in the activity.
In order to protect Human Rights Defenders, the Commission recommends that the Public
Prosecution in the Gaza Strip conduct the necessary investigation in cases in which human rights
defenders suffer abuse or arbitrary detention and sums by the security services. The prosecution
should also prosecute the perpetrators. There is a need for the responsible authorities in the Gaza
Strip to stop the interference of the security services in dismissing military employees from work
and referring human rights defenders for investigation on grounds of their unionist activity and
exercising the right to peaceful assembly in defense of the rights of public employees and to
prosecute the perpetrators.
32
On March 16, 2019, the Commission issued a statement condemning the incident as an unprecedented targeting
of the Commission’s workers and a dangerous message addressed to civil society institutions, activists and human
rights defenders that there is no immunity for anyone. The ICHR asked the competent authorities in the Gaza Strip
to open an official, serious and independent investigation into the incident of assaulting the ICHR’s staff and bring
those who assaulted them to justice.