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Israel Slammed for Killing Five Palestinian Children in Gaza
JERUSALEM, Occupied Territories, Nov 23 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Israel remained in the firing line Friday over an explosion that killed five Palestinian schoolboys in Gaza yesterday.
Indications that Israel was directly responsible for the killings came amid reports that the blast was caused by a booby-trap set by the Israeli army, and not by one of the boys kicking an unexploded tank shell, as Israel originally claimed.
Frustrations following the boys' death on Thursday led to further tragedy after their funerals Friday, as a Palestinian teenager was shot and killed, and two other Palestinians were wounded in a firefight with Israeli troops.
The Israeli army was tightlipped about the explosion, saying only that it was investigating the cause of the boys' deaths, which occurred in the Gaza town of Khan Yunis.
The Israeli daily newspaper Maariv quoted military sources Friday as saying that a week ago special forces had laid a booby-trap in the area where the blast occurred to kill Palestinians who had allegedly been firing mortar bombs from the area at Israeli targets.
Those attacks were regularly responded to by Israeli machine-gun and tank fire and several Palestinians have been shot and killed as a result. That led to the initial conclusion that the boys - all from the same family and under the age of 14 - had happened on an unexploded shell.
But Maariv quoted its source as saying a special unit of the Israeli army crossed into Palestinian-controlled territory last week and set the booby trap, one typically used by the army.
For his part, Brahim al-Astal, the uncle of two of the victims, reported that he had spotted an Israeli unit, supported by tanks, operating in the area the night before the explosion.
That was corroborated by General Abdel-Razek al-Majaida, chief of the Palestinian security services in the Gaza Strip.
"Unfortunately, it was the children who set off the explosive device," Maariv reported.
The booby-trap theory was reinforced by the force of the blast, bigger than a normal tank shell, which blew all five boys to bits.
During the course of the nearly 14-month-old Palestinian Intifada, or uprising against illegal Israeli occupation, several Palestinians have died as a result of mysterious explosions, with over 800 Palestinians being killed throughout the months of fighting.
Israel openly admits to targeting people it suspects of planning or carrying out attacks against it in a highly criticized policy of assassination that has seen at least 70 Palestinian political figures and leaders killed in the 14-month span of the current uprising.
"In light of this incident, this type of operation, in its entirety, should be reconsidered," said the unidentified military source quoted by
Maariv, implying that the tactic was not new.
An army spokesman questioned by Agence France-Presse (AFP), Lieutenant Colonel Olivier Rafowicz, declined any comment on the "allegations".
Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin bin Eliezer voiced "regret" Friday for the boys' deaths and announced an inquiry.
"An inquiry has been opened by the army into the circumstances of the incident and its conclusions will be submitted to the minister," a statement from the Israeli defense ministry added.
Transport Minister Ephraim Sneh, who was deputy defense minister in the previous government, told public radio "the deaths of five children are not to be taken lightly. An inquiry must be held, and the army must give explanations."
Yossi Sarid, leader of the left-wing opposition Meretz party, accused Israel's military spokesman of concealing the facts, by saying only that the army had fired no shells on Thursday.
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