Hamas recommends the following Press release issued by the Ministry of Interior and National Security replying to the Human Rights Watch’s report on freedoms in the Palestinian Territories.
The Ministry of Interior and National Security stated:
With great concern, we followed up the report issued by Human Rights Watch on October 23, 2018, that included allegations against the Security Forces in the Gaza Strip accusing them of repressing the dissent. We think that this report lacks accuracy and objectivity and does not reflect reality in the Gaza Strip.
We would like to highlight the following clarifications on what was mentioned in the report:
1.    Before several months, we received some inquiries from Human Rights Watch on issues related to freedoms in the Gaza Strip. They also asked about certain persons who are being allegedly arrested in the Gaza Strip. In return, we clarified and elaborated all issues, explaining the grounds of the cases in question. However, when the report was published, we were shocked because Human Rights Watch ignored our explanations.
2.    On 22nd of October, we sent a message to Human Rights Watch asking about the reason why it ignored our explanation for the issues they had asked about.
3.    The Ministry of Interior and National Security stresses that it maintains continual contact with international and human rights organisations. In fact, many international organisations, such as the Red Cross, pay regular visits and hold meetings with the ministry.
4.    The Ministry of Interior and National Security DOES NOT hold in detention any person because of his/her political views or exercising his/her freedom of expression. All the prisoners in Gaza are being held due to criminal acts they have committed and each has a legal file about his/her case.
5.    We have confirmed to Human Rights Watch, and we hereby confirm once again, that the ministry is prepared to receive a team from the organisation to visit all the jails in the Gaza Strip. Then, Human Rights Watch would closely investigate the jails and the prisoners’ conditions there. We reiterate that we have nothing wrong that may prompt us to hide the truth and we are ready for absolute cooperation with any organisation.
6.     We have the ministry-affiliated supervisory team that observes the overall performance of the security forces, especially the conditions of the prisoners. When recording any violation made by a police officer, we interrogate that officer and inflict an appropriate punishment on him/her.
We do protect the Palestinian citizens and implement the Basic Palestinian law in terms of freedom of expression and prisoners’ rights.