| Boy, 9, shot dead in Gaza; Israeli hurt by bomb thrown at car
By Haaretz Service and Agencies
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Ehab Shatat was killed by machine gun fire, apparently from a tank-mounted gun, while standing near his home in Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza, Palestinian hospital and security officials said.
Palestinian medics said that IDF soldiers shot and killed a 10-year-old Palestinian boy and seriously wounded an adult in a confrontation with stone-throwing protesters in the northern Gaza Strip.
The medics said that soldiers shot at demonstrators who threw rocks at them at the southern entrance to Beit Hanun, killing the boy, Ehab Shattat, who sustained a gunshot wound in the chest, and wounding a 24-year-old.
Also Saturday, an Israeli Arab was moderately wounded Saturday by what the Israel Defense Forces believes was an explosive device thrown at his car northwest of the West Bank city of Ramallah.
The father of the boy killed in Beit Hanun said his son had gone to buy ice cream in a local market, and then he heard some shooting.
"I went outside and found my son lying on the ground," about 20 meters from his home, Abdel-Karim Shattat told reporters at the local Al Awda hospital, clutching the bullet that doctors had managed to extract from the boy's wound.
An IDF source said soldiers fired warning shots into the air when protesters threw cement blocks and stones at them in Beit Hanun.
The military said it was checking the report.
The incident comes the day after three Palestinians were killed by IDF troops in the Gaza Strip. An armed man, Mohammad Defallah, 22, was shot dead by IDF troops who lay in ambush on the outskirts of Beit Hanun.
A second armed man, Yasser Al-Arja, 27, was killed by troops north of Khan Yunis.
In a third incident, 55-year-old Mohammed Karim was killed when IDF troops opened fire in the direction of homes west of Khan Yunis.
Troops re-opened the Gush Katif checkpoint in the central Strip on Saturday, which was closed in the wake of last week's attack on a nearby post that killed an IDF soldier. The opening of the checkpoint allows Palestinians to cross from northern to southern Gaza.
Qassam hits Sderot; one lightly hurt
Palestinian militants fired three Qassam rockets from the Gaza Strip into toward Israel on Friday. One of the three rockets landed in the southern Negev town of Sderot, lightly wounding one person.
Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack, Army Radio reported Saturday.
Eight other people were treated for shock following the attack on Sderot, which has been subject to a barrage of Qassam rockets in the past week.
On Monday, Afik Zahavi, age three and a half, and Mordechai Yosepov, 49, were killed by a rocket fired from the northern Gaza Strip.
Following that fatal attack, the IDF raided areas from which the rockets are launched, close to Beit Hanun. Officers said the operation, meant to ensure no rockets would be launched, could last for months.
Three Palestinians said killed by IDF fire in Gaza
On Friday, three Palestinians were killed by IDF troops in the Gaza Strip. One man was killed in the Rafah refugee camp as troops ended a raid to uncover weapons-smuggling tunnels.
A second man was killed near the settlement of Netzer Hazani, witnesses and medics said. Palestinian medics said the 45-year-old man had been unarmed and may have been a farmer from a nearby village.
Yassir al-Arja, 25, identified by residents of Rafah's Brazil neighborhood as a scrap dealer, was shot dead while picking through rubble during the IDF operation near the Egyptian border, witnesses said.
However, an IDF spokesman said he had no information about the death.
The spokesman said soldiers, leaving the Rafah camp came under fire from militants armed with anti-tank rockets, grenades and automatic weapons, and shot back.
During the raid, troops discovered a shaft leading to a tunnel that had been dug under abandoned structures, the spokesman said. Witnesses said IDF troops demolished six houses after ordering Palestinian families to leave.
In Beit Hanoun, a Palestinian was killed while standing at his window watching the activity, Palestinian officials said.
The IDF said that the only shooting in the area was when an approaching armed militant fled after he was shot at by IDF soldiers before he had a chance to fire. It was not clear whether the militant was hit.
Also Friday, Palestinian militants publicly executed an accused collaborator with Israel with machineguns in the central square of the West Bank town of Qabatiya, after a throng of Palestinian onlookers called for him to die.
Wild celebrations broke out among the hundreds of spectators after four gunmen from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, linked to PA Chairman Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, shot 45-year-old father-of-two Mohammed Rafiq Daraghmeh.
Source : Haaretz Daily | |
