Members and volunteers of lawyers from The Center for Women’s Legal Researches, Counselling and Protection (CWLRCP), a founding member of the “Amal” coalition in the Gaza Strip to combat violence against women, participated in a protest against the continued killings of women and girls. The protest was organized by the coalition with the participation of community and human rights organizations on Monday in front of the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Gaza.

Professor Zeinab Al-Ghunaimi, Director of the Center, stated, “We stand today in front of the Public Prosecutor’s Office to remind law enforcement agencies that they must expedite investigations into the murders of women and conduct public trials for anyone who dares to assault their lives. It is no longer acceptable to close files on the killings of women or to delay investigations under the pretext of insufficient evidence.”

Al-Ghunaimi added: “The killing of girls and women has become a phenomenon that cannot be justified under any pretext. People should not kill women and girls, inflict any harm upon them, threaten them, or subject them to any form of violence, under penalty of law.”

The “Amal” coalition’s statement, distributed at the protest, called for: “The immediate implementation of the decision of the President of the National Authority to abolish mitigating excuses for the crimes of killing women under the pretext of so-called honor crimes or any other excuses. We call on all political forces to expedite the end of the division and restore national unity so that the Legislative Council can return to convene as a unified council and take its role in expediting the completion of all relevant laws, foremost of which is a new penal code, so that it deals with the crimes of killing women as criminal offenses against human life, regardless of gender.”