[Updated 11:19 a.m. Jan. 18: Recuperating at his family home, Rahma said the attack would not silence him.

This will not stop me from performing my duty as an activist in human rights and to continue writing articles, he said in a telephone interview.]

Rahma, who is international relations director at the Gaza Strip-based Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, was attacked by masked men Friday night as he left his brother's home. He was stabbed in the back, leg and shoulder, but was able to fend off his attackers with a laptop computer, according to Al Mezan officials.

It was the second assault since he penned a provocative article, published by the Palestinian Maan News Agency, blasting Palestinian leaders for failing to adequately protect the rights of citizens. Though the piece did not mention Hamas by name, Rahma criticized Palestinian governments and self-styled resistance movements for silencing their critics, failing to allow peaceful assembly, detaining and torturing political opponents and endangering civilians by placing military installations in residential neighborhoods.

He cited cases of Gaza children who were killed by misfired missiles aimed at Israel or caught in the crossfire of Israeli retaliatory strikes.

Facts on the ground indicate clear examples where Palestinian citizens in Gaza and the West Bank find themselves clashing with the government and/or resistance,'' he wrote. One can only wonder in such cases: Who will protect citizens from the mighty resistance and the powerful government when one, or both, harm them?

Following the article's publication, Rahma told Maan that he began receiving death threats.