Children shot as Israel continues Gaza offensive

by Jane Hutcheon

TONY EASTLEY: There are tears and no doubt some talk of revenge in Gaza too,
as Israel’s military offensive continues there, and so does the toll of death
and injury.

United Nations officials say a ten-year-old Palestinian schoolgirl was hit in
the stomach by Israeli army fire as she sat at her desk. She’s in a stable but
critical condition in hospital.

The army’s operation has killed more than 100 Palestinians. Both the army and
the military police have now opened investigations into last week’s killing of
a 13-year-old Palestinian girl, whose body was riddled with bullets.

Middle East Correspondent Jane Hutcheon reports.

JANE HUTCEHON: 13 year old Iman al-Hams was on her way to school last Tuesday. As she approached an Israeli observation tower in the southern Gaza town of Rafah, soldiers suspected she was carrying explosives in her satchel and she was shot to death.

Her mother Huweidah is still deep in mourning.

"It was a crime," she said. "Her schoolbag didn’t have explosives as the army claimed."

The chief of Rafah’s only hospital said Iman’s tiny body took 20 bullets, including five to the head.

Then, anonymously, Israeli soldiers who witnessed the killing, phoned the media to reveal that their platoon commander had fired bullets into the girl’s body after she’d already been shot.

SOLDIER (translated): The company commander approached her, shot two bullets into her, walked back towards the force, turned back to her, switched his weapon to automatic and emptied his entire magazine into her. He pumped her full of holes.

JANE HUTCEHON: The commander, whose name has been withheld, said he was victim of a plot by his soldiers after he took away some of their privileges. But the allegations, now being investigated by two military bodies, have clearly shocked the defence establishment.

Labour Knesset member Ephraim Sneh.

EPHRAIM SNEH: What I’m going to demand today of the Chief of Staff is to suspend this commander immediately. If he is found innocent, he can be restored to command, but a moral, education signal must be sent to the whole military that acts of brutality are unacceptable.

JANE HUTCEHON: Other Knesset members have called for the probe to be taken out of the army’s hands. For its part the Israeli defence forces admits the matter is extremely grave.

But spokeswoman Sharon Feingold said that in the past, Palestinian children had been used by militants as bait during attacks on soldiers.

SHARON FEINGOLD: So unfortunately, we don’t know what happened in this case, but I can say with sadness that this is not the first time children have been used by terrorist cells to conduct operations for them.

JANE HUTCEHON: Army sources have told AM, the company commander is now likely to be suspended until investigations have been concluded. Others, including his soldiers, have asked why he remained at his post more than a week after the tragic event.

This is Jane Hutcheon in Jerusalem, for AM.

http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2004/s1218928.htm