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Israeli Soldiers Kill Nine-Year-Old Palestinian Boy
RAMALLAH, West Bank, March 2 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Israeli troops shot and killed a nine-year-old Palestinian boy Friday in the West Bank town of El-Bireh after shooting in the direction of a group of children playing with cap guns, medical officials and witnesses said.
Ubey Darraj was dead on arrival in hospital after suffering a bullet wound in the chest caused by a heavy caliber machine-gun, hospital officials said. Witnesses said the boy was in his family's apartment when he was shot.
Witnesses added that the machine-gun fire came from army positions at the Psagot Jewish settlement after a group of children were playing with cap guns below the apartment building where Darraj lived.
The Israeli army said there had been a "gunfight" but was unaware of Palestinian casualties.
Meanwhile, a 13-year-old Palestinian boy, shot by Israeli troops on Tuesday, died in hospital Friday in a Gaza City hospital, medical officials said.
Mohammed Mahmoud Hellis, 13, died after he was shot in the head by soldiers while walking from school near the flashpoint Karni crossing point between Israel and the Gaza Strip. Witnesses said there were no clashes at the time.
Earlier Friday, the Israeli army shot dead a Palestinian described by Palestinian officials as a poor, mentally ill vagrant in the Gaza Strip, and then conceded its troops may have made a tragic mistake.
The Israeli military said soldiers saw the Palestinian planting a bomb along a main road in the central Gaza Strip, apparently planning to set it off as a military or civilian convoy passed, reports the Washington Post.
The soldiers then shot and killed the Palestinian man - identified by Palestinian security as Mustafa Al-Ramlawi, 42, from the Bureij Refugee Camp.
"Soldiers saw a man who was preparing to detonate a bomb and shot him, killing him instantly," the Israeli Army spokesman said.
Another spokesman, however, said that no bomb had been found and conceded that the action may have been a mistake.
"The soldiers saw a man who was walking with a sack. He was walking at night in an area that is a totally closed military zone," he said.
Palestinian hospital officials said the man's body was mangled, having been hit repeatedly by heavy-caliber machine-gun fire and explosive shells.
Initially the Israeli army claimed that by shooting the man the soldiers had thwarted an attempted attack against "civilians and soldiers traveling the road," reports the BBC.
According to an army communiqué the incident occurred in the early hours of Friday morning as the troops were in action along the Karni-Netzarim road, the BBC adds.
Saeb al-Ajez, head of Palestinian national security in the northern Gaza Strip, said: "This was a simple, poor man, who always walked through the streets during the day and nights.
"Everyone knew him, including the Israeli army in the area. The Israelis fired on him without warning. They also shot explosive shells at him and many bullets," he said.
"This man was not a danger. This is part of their policy of killing that we condemn. They have transformed Palestinian villages into military shooting zones," added al-Ajez.
The death brings to 423 the number of people killed as a result of Israeli-Palestinian violence that broke out in late September. Of the victims, 347 have been Palestinians.
In other incidents Friday - the Muslim day of prayer that has seen concentrated Israeli-Palestinian violence for five straight months - clashes between Palestinian stone-throwers and Israeli troops broke out after demonstrations.
Medical officials said seven Palestinians were lightly injured when Israeli soldiers fired rubber-coated steel bullets at them at the northern edge of the West Bank city of Ramallah.
The clashes between dozens of youths and the soldiers came after some 1,500 people marched through Ramallah, expressing support for the continuations of the Palestinian Intifada or uprising against Israeli occupation.
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