The Gaza-based Palestinian Center for Human Rights released a statement of concern Tuesday, in the wake of the fall of several projectiles on a house and soft-drinks factory in the northern Strip, in which six civilians were injured.
A report from the organization said it was the third home-made projectile to land on civilian property in Gaza in the past week, and called on government officials to investigate.
The group noted that "members of the Palestinian resistance continue to store explosives or to treat such explosives in locations close to populated areas," commenting that the practice "poses a major threat to the lives of the Palestinian civilians and constitutes a violation of both International Human Rights Law and the International Humanitarian Law."
According to testimony, PCHR said that a projectile exploded in a house belonging to Ahmed Kheir al-Batsh, 62, in the As-Salam neighborhood in Jabaliya in the northern Gaza Strip, injuring a mother and son, who were both hospitalized for shrapnel wounds.
A neighbor, Raed Johar al-Batsh, 35, sustained shrapnel wounds to the head as a result of the glass windows in his house shattering from the blast. The projectile penetrated the window in a room located in the western part of the second floor in the house. It exploded in the northern wall of the room causing a hole. The house was heavily damaged and the glass of the windows in three of the neighboring houses shattered.
The report noted that a site used by members of one of the Palestinian factions is located to the southwest of Al-Batsh's house.
Similar incidents were reported on 24 and 26 March, PCHR said.
The rights organization asked that the government "open serious investigations into the circumstances of the three reported incidents and to take measures necessary to protect Palestinians and their property."
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