Israeli troops kill boy, aged 11

ISRAELI soldiers killed an 11-year-old boy and wounded a TV news cameraman when they fired towards Palestinian protesters in the West Bank and Gaza Strip yesterday.

Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz said troops have arrested more than 1,200 Palestinians in the past two months in what he described as an unprecedented campaign against suspected militants.

Palestinians say Israel is trying to scuttle any chance of a truce with its stepped-up raids on suspected militants.

In the West Bank town of Tulkarem, an 11-year-old boy, Abdel Karim Salameh, was killed yesterday by a bullet in the head, said the director of the town's hospital, Dr Ahmed Abu Baker. A second boy, also aged 11, was injured by a rubber-coated steel pellet in the leg, the director said.

The boys were among a group of students walking home from school after end-of-term exams, witnesses said. The youngsters threw stones at an army jeep, and soldiers opened fire, killing the boy. The Israeli military said soldiers used non-lethal means in dispersing the stone-throwers, but refused to say what those means were.

The army considers rubber-coated steel pellets non-lethal, although they have been fatal at closer range.

The death was the second of a Palestinian child in two days. On Saturday, a nine-year-old girl was killed as she stood outside her home in a Gaza refugee camp.

In Gaza yesterday, about 150 Palestinians and foreign supporters marched towards an Israeli military checkpoint to protest against restrictions on Palestinian movement.

When the supporters were about 50 yards from the checkpoint, soldiers fired to keep back the marchers, and a ricochet hit cameraman Tamer Ziara in the head, according to Mohammed al-Hawaja, an organiser of the march.

Ziara, 21, who was covering the march for Associated Press Television News, was taken to nearby Rafah Hospital. Doctors at the hospital said the ricochet cut a gash in the back of Ziara's head, but he was in stable condition and did not need an operation.

The protest took place at a checkpoint on the outskirts of the Mowasi area, which is close to the Jewish settlement of Gush Katif. Mowasi, home to tens of thousands of Palestinians, has come under severe restrictions in the past 27 months of fighting because of its proximity to the settlements.

Residents can pass through checkpoints only with special permits. Mowasi is off-limits to visitors.

Mr Mofaz said yesterday that the military has been "very successful" in preventing Palestinian shootings and bombings. For the past month, there have been no attacks in Israel itself, although two Palestinian gunmen broke into the West Bank settlement of Otniel on Friday, killing four Jewish seminary students before being shot dead by security forces.

The Islamic Jihad group claimed responsibility for the shooting and said it was avenging the killing of a local militia leader by Israeli troops on Thursday. In all, eight Palestinians were killed that day in army raids, including six wanted men.

Mr Mofaz said security forces have arrested more than 1,200 wanted Palestinians in the past two months