RAMALLAH – The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in the occupied Palestinian territories expressed on Wednesday “deep concern” over last week’s killing of a 38 year old man in the Gaza Strip’s city of Rafah.

The body of the victim was brought to Abu Youssef Al Najjar Hospital in Rafah City on 19 January with a fatal bullet wound to the chest. The victim’s family subsequently publicly claimed responsibility for the killing, and indicated that an armed group affiliated with the de facto authorities had detained the man and handed him over to the family before he was killed.

According to information received by OHCHR, masked men abducted the victim some two months ago and family members later visited him at a military site belonging to the armed group.

“OHCHR condemns this killing in the strongest terms and reminds the de facto authorities in Gaza of their legally binding obligation to respect and protect the right to life and security of every person in Gaza,” OHCHR said in a statement. “As articulated in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the right to life is an inherent right to every human being and no one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life."

OHCHR called on “the concerned authorities to undertake immediate, full, independent and impartial investigation into this killing in order to bring the perpetrators to justice and to deter further violations of the right to life.”

M.K.