GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Fatima Abu Mahdi, 17, who lived in the Nuseirat Camp in central Gaza, was killed Jan. 19 in her house after a bullet hit her in the head. A Hamas-affiliated police spokesman in Gaza, Ayman al-Batniji, told Al-Monitor, “According to preliminary investigations, the family reported that Fatima’s brother killed her by mistake with a bullet that was fired while he was cleaning his gun.” Batniji said the investigation was ongoing.

There have been a number of recent cases where women were killed by a family member in the Gaza Strip, with the listed causes ranging from gun accidents to honor killings.

A 26-year-old woman was killed in the Bureij camp in the Gaza Strip on Jan. 6; her husband was reported to have been cleaning his weapon when a bullet was fired by mistake. Another woman, 42, from Khan Younis in the south of the Gaza Strip, was asphyxiated by her father Sept. 18; he was reported to be defending the family’s honor.

Abu Mahdi’s death sparked a wave of anger on social media and raised questions about why more women are victims of "gun accidents" than men and why men are usually those who have fired the weapon.