World - Reuters
Israel Kills Palestinian Boy in Gaza - Witnesses
Date: Sat, May 01, 2004
GAZA (Reuters) - Israeli troops shot dead a seven-year-old Palestinian boy in the Gaza Strip (news - web sites) on Saturday, witnesses said, a day before Ariel Sharon (news - web sites)'s right-wing Likud party votes on his plan to unilaterally pull out of Gaza.
Witnesses said Hussein Abu Eker, 7, died after he was hit in the head and arm by live fire from an Israeli tank during an army raid in Khan Younis refugee camp. The action sparked clashes with Palestinian gunmen and stone-throwing youths.
Israeli military sources said the army was not in the refugee camp at the time. The sources said that earlier militants had fired an anti-tank missile and thrown petrol bombs at soldiers near an adjoining Jewish settlement. Troops fired at them but didn't identify a hit.
Ten more Palestinians, mostly children and teenagers, were wounded in the clashes, Palestinian medics said. It was unclear if any of the injured were militants.
Eker's cousin, Ichlas, said Eker was on his way to pray at a mosque in the area with his brothers.
"Tanks started to open heavy fire toward the air," she said. "Hussein fell in front of the mosque and the others fell near him. He was bleeding for more than 30 minutes before ambulances could reach him because of the heavy shooting."
Elsewhere in the Gaza Strip, witnesses said Israeli soldiers shot and wounded three Palestinians in Rafah refugee camp and near the village of Beit Lahiya.
Military sources said two militants tried to infiltrate a settlement near the village and soldiers fired shots in the air and later shots toward them, but could not confirm if they were hit. There was no immediate comment on the Rafah shooting.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Likud party will vote tomorrow in a non-binding referendum on his plan to unilaterally evacuate all Jewish settlements from Gaza and some from the West Bank, which Sharon says will boost security in Israel.
The plan also calls for Israel to retain large settlement blocs in the West Bank, which Palestinians call a land grab.
SOURCE
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