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Photo: AFP
Moussa evacuated from the scene by medics
Photo: AFP
Soldier firing tear gas at Naalin
Photo: AFP

IDF probes Palestinian boy's death

Initial Palestinian reports of 11-year old allegedly shot by soldiers during anti-fence rally in Naalin currently under investigation by IDF, Police Internal Affairs. Army confirms forces fired towards rioting protestors

A preliminary IDF investigation into the matter of the 11-year old boy who was shot by a soldier in Naalin on Tuesday confirmed that troops operating at the scene fired towards a group of rioting protestors.

 

Due to the involvement of Border Guard officers, who were operating under the command of the IDF, the details of the incident were transferred to the Police Internal Affairs Bureau as well as the IDF for investigation.

 

The IDF stated that following the event, the Central Command has ordered that beginning next week a special Border Police task force that specializes in riot control and the delineation of the security fence in the area will be stationed in Naalin.

 

Palestinian sources reported on Tuesday afternoon that an 11-year-old Palestinian boy was shot and killed by IDF or Border Police troops engaged in dispersing a protest near the separation fence by the village of Naalin, located west of Ramallah.

 

Following the reports Central Command Chief Major General Gadi Shamni ordered an operational investigation, while Brigadier General Yoav Mordechai, the head of the Civil Administration, coordinated a joint medical inquiry with Palestinian officials.

 

The IDF stated that the force fired towards protestors that damaged the fence and threw stones at security forces. The matter is still being investigated by the army and the police. The Civil Administration head also ordered talks with the Palestinians in order to minimize the order violations in the area. "The IDF will thus limit the harm done to uninvolved persons," the statement said.

 

"For a number of weeks now serious violations of public order have been occurring within close proximity of the security fence near the village of Naalin, in which Israeli citizens and foreigners have been participating with the aim of preventing the construction of the fence.

 

"Over 20 officers, Border Guard officers, and soldiers have been wounded by the protests so far. The IDF will continue to build the security fence in the area of Naalin until it is completed," the statement concluded.

 

'Boy was sitting under olive tree'

Reports of the Palestinian boy's death caused a great commotion on Tuesday. It was the first incident of its kind since 2005, when a 13-year-old Palestinian youth was shot while advancing towards the West Bank fence.

 

The initial probe into the report conducted by the IDF determined that an ambulance transporting a Palestinian boy left the village of Naalin and arrived at an army checkpoint in a nearby junction. The soldiers authorized the ambulance's passage and it continued to Ramallah. Half an hour later several dozen Palestinians gathered at that same junction and claimed the IDF had killed the boy.

 

The Naalin site has become a near daily point of violent confrontation between security forces and Palestinian, Israeli and foreign nationals who oppose the construction of the fence.

 

Naalin's anti-fence committee told Ynet that a Border Policeman fired off a single shot towards the boy, Ahmed Hussam Mussa, from a distance of 100 feet, while the latter was sitting with his friends under an

olive tree.

 

Committee member Ibrahim Khawaja told Ynet that the children who were with Moussa said that they were sitting near the site where the fence is being constructed when a military vehicle suddenly arrived, apparently belonging to the Border Police. They said a trooper exited the jeep, aimed his rifle towards the group and hit Moussa in the head. Khawaja said the boy was killed and later evacuated to the Ramallah Hospital.

 


פרסום ראשון: 07.29.08, 18:45
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