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Army chief 'emptied his magazine' at girl in Gaza
Two separate official investigations are under way into the fatal shooting of a 13-year-old girl in Gaza by the Israeli army after soldiers testified that their company commander "emptied his magazine" at her after she had been shot and was presumed dead.
The army has already admitted that the killing of Iman al-Hams in the town of Rafah a week ago was a mistake and that her bag, which it says soldiers thought carried explosives, contained school books.
Soldiers have come forward to explain that her body was riddled with 20 bullets because their immediate commander "confirmed the killing" by shooting two bullets at her already prone body before withdrawing a short distance and then firing a burst of automatic gunfire at the corpse.
The Judge Advocate General, Brigadier General Avi Mandelblit, has instructed the military police to launch a criminal investigation against the commander in the Givati Brigade's crack Shaked Battalion as a result of the claim. Unusually, the investigation was ordered even though the army inquiry is incomplete.
The move follows interviews with soldiers serving in the company published in the Israeli newspaper Yedhiot Ahronot. It quoted them as saying the commander should have been stood down immediately after the incident. One soldier told the newspaper: "The company CO who sprayed the girl with bullets turned us all into vicious animals and besmirched us all ... If he is not dismissed, we will not agree to serve under him." Another said the commander had "desecrated the body".
According to figures produced by 11 UN agencies, 24 Palestinians under the age of 17 have been killed since 28 September when the army entered northern Gaza in response to the firing by Palestinian militants of two Qassam rockets which killed two Israeli children in Sderot. A nine-year-old girl was among 11 Palestinians killed in the Gaza Strip over the weekend.
The investigations opened as security sources told the newspaper Haaretz that the Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, had rejected a request from army commanders to withdraw from the densely populated Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza on the grounds that the fortnight-old operation "Days of Penitence" was endangering troops and that militants had now removed rockets to positions outside the camp.
Mr Sharon told the Knesset at the opening of what promises to be a difficult winter session for the government that it would be voting on 25 October on his plan to withdraw some 7,500 settlers from Gaza.
The level of difficulty was underlined last night when the legislature opposed by 45 to 33 a routine motion noting Mr Sharon's speech. Although it does not threaten Mr Sharon's administration, the defeat emphasised the strong opposition to the plan from the extreme right of Israeli politics and from the far right of his own Likud party, seven of whose members abstained last night.
* A Palestinian farmer, Hani Shadeh, 26, was shot and critically wounded in his olive orchard near Nablus in the West Bank yesterday.
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=571222
Soldiers have come forward to explain that her body was riddled with 20 bullets because their immediate commander "confirmed the killing" by shooting two bullets at her already prone body before withdrawing a short distance and then firing a burst of automatic gunfire at the corpse.
The Judge Advocate General, Brigadier General Avi Mandelblit, has instructed the military police to launch a criminal investigation against the commander in the Givati Brigade's crack Shaked Battalion as a result of the claim. Unusually, the investigation was ordered even though the army inquiry is incomplete.
The move follows interviews with soldiers serving in the company published in the Israeli newspaper Yedhiot Ahronot. It quoted them as saying the commander should have been stood down immediately after the incident. One soldier told the newspaper: "The company CO who sprayed the girl with bullets turned us all into vicious animals and besmirched us all ... If he is not dismissed, we will not agree to serve under him." Another said the commander had "desecrated the body".
According to figures produced by 11 UN agencies, 24 Palestinians under the age of 17 have been killed since 28 September when the army entered northern Gaza in response to the firing by Palestinian militants of two Qassam rockets which killed two Israeli children in Sderot. A nine-year-old girl was among 11 Palestinians killed in the Gaza Strip over the weekend.
The investigations opened as security sources told the newspaper Haaretz that the Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, had rejected a request from army commanders to withdraw from the densely populated Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza on the grounds that the fortnight-old operation "Days of Penitence" was endangering troops and that militants had now removed rockets to positions outside the camp.
Mr Sharon told the Knesset at the opening of what promises to be a difficult winter session for the government that it would be voting on 25 October on his plan to withdraw some 7,500 settlers from Gaza.
The level of difficulty was underlined last night when the legislature opposed by 45 to 33 a routine motion noting Mr Sharon's speech. Although it does not threaten Mr Sharon's administration, the defeat emphasised the strong opposition to the plan from the extreme right of Israeli politics and from the far right of his own Likud party, seven of whose members abstained last night.
* A Palestinian farmer, Hani Shadeh, 26, was shot and critically wounded in his olive orchard near Nablus in the West Bank yesterday.
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=571222
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12 October 2004 – As another Palestinian girl in the Gaza Strip was hit by Israeli gunfire while attending a United Nations-run school, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said today that he was deeply troubled by the continuing military action and violence in the area, especially its effect on local children.
Ghadeer Jaber Mokheimer, 11, was hit in the stomach during classes at the school in the refugee camp at Khan Younis, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said in a statement issued in Jerusalem. The fifth grade student underwent emergency surgery in hospital, where her condition was later described as stable.
UNRWA said two shots were heard at about 10:45 a.m. from the direction of an Israeli army position on the border of the Gush Katif settlement and overlooking Khan Younis.
Noting that it is the fourth incident of its kind in two years, and that the Agency has repeatedly asked Israeli authorities to stop firing at schools, UNRWA Commissioner-General Peter Hansen called again for an immediate end to such shootings.
Most recently, 10-year-old Raghda Adnan Al-Assar was struck in the head on 7 September while sitting at her desk in a classroom of another UNRWA-run school in Khan Younis. She never regained consciousness and died on 22 September.
In a statement issued by his spokesman, Mr. Annan said he deplored the "high toll of death and injuries among the civilian population" and grieved "for the many children who have been killed or wounded" during the Israeli military operations in the north of the Gaza Strip.
The Secretary-General said he was disturbed by the destruction of civilian property, infrastructure and agricultural land during the operations and called on the Israeli Government to do its utmost to avoid harming Palestinian civilians.
Reminding both sides of their obligations under international humanitarian law to protect civilians, he urged them to cease all forms of violence and search for a peaceful settlement.
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=12196&Cr=palestin&Cr1=
Ghadeer Jaber Mokheimer, 11, was hit in the stomach during classes at the school in the refugee camp at Khan Younis, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said in a statement issued in Jerusalem. The fifth grade student underwent emergency surgery in hospital, where her condition was later described as stable.
UNRWA said two shots were heard at about 10:45 a.m. from the direction of an Israeli army position on the border of the Gush Katif settlement and overlooking Khan Younis.
Noting that it is the fourth incident of its kind in two years, and that the Agency has repeatedly asked Israeli authorities to stop firing at schools, UNRWA Commissioner-General Peter Hansen called again for an immediate end to such shootings.
Most recently, 10-year-old Raghda Adnan Al-Assar was struck in the head on 7 September while sitting at her desk in a classroom of another UNRWA-run school in Khan Younis. She never regained consciousness and died on 22 September.
In a statement issued by his spokesman, Mr. Annan said he deplored the "high toll of death and injuries among the civilian population" and grieved "for the many children who have been killed or wounded" during the Israeli military operations in the north of the Gaza Strip.
The Secretary-General said he was disturbed by the destruction of civilian property, infrastructure and agricultural land during the operations and called on the Israeli Government to do its utmost to avoid harming Palestinian civilians.
Reminding both sides of their obligations under international humanitarian law to protect civilians, he urged them to cease all forms of violence and search for a peaceful settlement.
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=12196&Cr=palestin&Cr1=
An Unrwa statement said it had "repeatedly called on the Israeli authorities to stop firing at schools".
However, it says Israel routinely denies its soldiers have been involved or invokes the security requirements of its positions.
"Peter Hansen, Unrwa's Commissioner-General has demanded that such shootings must stop," the statement says.
Israel radio reported that the army was investigating the incident, but a military spokesperson said initial checks indicated that troops opened fire at Palestinians in the area who were firing mortar shells at an Israeli settlement.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3737218.stm
However, it says Israel routinely denies its soldiers have been involved or invokes the security requirements of its positions.
"Peter Hansen, Unrwa's Commissioner-General has demanded that such shootings must stop," the statement says.
Israel radio reported that the army was investigating the incident, but a military spokesperson said initial checks indicated that troops opened fire at Palestinians in the area who were firing mortar shells at an Israeli settlement.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3737218.stm
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