Al Mezan Center for Human Rights calls on the competent authorities in Gaza to investigate a shooting incident at Gaza Psychiatric Hospital. A prison inmate and a hospital inpatient were killed during the shooting, as reported by the Ministry of Interior.

According to available field information, on Saturday evening, 13 March 2021, the shooting started when a 21-year-old prison inmate, who was convicted of homicide and being held at the hospital for a psychiatric health evaluation, grabbed a police officer’s gun. He proceeded to shoot and kill an inpatient—Mohammed Ziyad al-Sous, a 24-year-old resident a Middle Gaza— before a police officer fatally shot him.    

Al Mezan has contacted the hospital’s administration and inpatients to gather additional information and testimonies concerning the incident, but no response was given. 

Al Mezan calls on the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Gaza to investigate the incident since it occurred at a government hospital and involved both the police and a convicted criminal in police custody. The findings must be shared with the public, notably pertaining to the procedures followed in the transfer and detention of the inmate.