News Brief

(IsraelNN.com) An Arab human rights group has charged that Gaza residents have suffered less freedom and more human rights violations since Hamas staged its military takeover of Gaza last June. The Palestinian Independent Commission for Citizens' Rights labeled both the Hamas and rival Fatah factions as guilty for using the law "as a tool to justify practices and policies each side uses to challenge the other."
 
Muin Barghouti, an official of the rights group, told reporters in Ramallah that the number of Arabs killed in local clashes is more than those killed by the IDF. Palestinian Authority minister Abdel-Razak al-Yahya told Reuters News Agency that human rights violations are far worse in Gaza then they are in Judea and Samaria. Hamas spokesman Ehab Al-Ghsain denied the charges except for what he said are isolated cases of abuses of human rights.