ONE woman who will not be getting married is Yusra al- Azzam, murdered by self- appointed Hamas religious police for the crime of picnicking on the beach with a man who turned out to be her fiancé.

The 20-year-old was killed in Gaza in April last year after a car full of thugs tried to pull over her vehicle after it left the seashore, and opened fire when it refused to stop.

The killers eventually caught up with her car, beating Ms al-Azzam’s fiancé and his brother. They were later arrested.

Hamas initially denied involvement, but then admitted that the gunmen were members. It quickly disavowed the killing, saying that the gunmen had acted individually.

Honour crimes are common but such random killings are rare, and the death generated much negative publicity.

However, the killers were related to a powerful Gaza clan and were soon released.

With few relying on official courts, the dispute went to traditional religious arbitration and the Mufti of Gaza ordered that the al-Azzams be paid 25,000 Jordanian dinars (£19,000) in “blood money” after judging the death to have been accidental.

He applied the standard yardstick of 4.25kg (150oz) of gold for a dead man and half that for a woman.

In their dilapidated house in Beit Lahiya, Ms al-Azzam’s parents are still bitter but fearful, and are careful to emphasise that the family dispute is closed.

“We are a weak family and cannot act for our rights,” said her father, Jamal, a poor 43-year-old cleaner who complained that while their personal “rights” were taken care of, the Government, then controlled by Fatah, had failed to enforce the public law by jailing the culprits.

Ms al-Azzam’s mother, Suhair, exploded with anger: “We want them to be punished more. But as long as the old men take responsibility for these situations, we can’t do anything.”

Sitting beneath a portrait of his dead daughter on the wall, Mr al-Azzam kept murmuring “it is the will of Allah” as he chose his words carefully, eager not to cause offence to any of the parties.

Also prominent on the wall were portraits of the assassinated Hamas leaders Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi.

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