British Witness Says Troops Killed Palestinian Boy Without Provocation

The Israeli military said the death of 13-year-old Baha Albahsh is under investigation. Military officials initially said he set himself alight while handling a fire bomb, but a Palestinian doctor said he was killed by a gunshot in the chest.

Ewa Jasiewics, 24, of London, said Albahsh tagged along with her group as usual on Sunday as the foreigners walked in the town of Nablus to observe Israeli troops' behavior toward youngsters breaking a military curfew to get to school.

She is an activist with the International Solidarity Movement, which regularly stages protest marches against the Israeli army and has tried to act as a human shield for Palestinians, both on the streets and in standoffs with troops at Yasser Arafat's West Bank headquarters and at Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity.

"An armored personnel car came and stopped on the left of the street," Jasiewics said. "A soldier popped up from inside. I saw him with his rifle and he aimed at some kids on the street then I saw Baha shot dead by the soldier. There was no stone-throwing or shooting going on at the time."

Jasiewics said that in the month she has spent with Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip she has often seen soldiers train their gunsights on people without further incident; this time was different.

"This soldier fired," she said. "I saw Baha get shot and lying on the ground, with blood coming out of his chest...I saw blood oozing from his mouth. We called an ambulance and the ambulance came and took him."

"It wasn't accidental," Jasiewics said. "The soldiers decided to kill him."

Ghassan Hamdan, a doctor at Rafidia hospital in Nablus, said Albahsh was killed by a bullet which entered his body at the shoulder and lodged in his chest.

Nablus, the West Bank's largest city, has been under almost constant curfew since June 21.