Israeli army kills Palestinian boy in West Bank

1.00pm

TULKARM, West Bank - Israeli soldiers shot dead an 11-year-old boy in the West Bank on Sunday, the second Palestinian child killed by Israeli gunfire in two days, witnesses said.

In a separate incident, a cameraman working for the Associated Press news agency was hit by a bullet in the head when Israeli soldiers opened fire in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian witnesses said.

Israeli-Palestinian violence has surged since Israeli forces killed eight Palestinians in operations against militants in the West Bank and Gaza Strip on Wednesday and Thursday.

In the latest bloodshed, Abdel-Karim Salameh, 11, was hit in the head and killed by Israeli fire in the West Bank city of Tulkarm while walking home from school, about 500m from a crowd throwing stones at soldiers, witnesses said.

Another boy was wounded, they added.

Israeli military sources said they had no information on Palestinian casualties and that troops had used riot dispersal gear against the stone-throwers.

Such equipment can include sometimes-lethal rubber-coated metal bullets.

Israel's right-wing government signalled the army would strike even harder at militant groups that have carried out attacks on its citizens in a Palestinian uprising for statehood.

"The defence minister (Shaul Mofaz) and I agreed to apply heavy pressure on the terrorist organisations," Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was quoted by a government source as telling his cabinet on Sunday.

Sharon has made the fight against what he calls Palestinian terrorism his bedrock platform in the current Israeli election campaign leading to a parliamentary poll on January 28.

Palestinian witnesses said the injured AP cameraman was wounded while filming a demonstration near Rafah refugee camp in the Gaza Strip on Sunday.

They said soldiers shot in the air and at the ground and the bullet that hit him had apparently ricocheted.

Ali Musa, a doctor at the Rafah hospital, said the cameraman was in a stable condition after being hit in the back of his head.

The army said it was investigating the incident.

On Saturday, Israeli soldiers shot dead nine-year-old Hanin Abu Suleiman outside her home in the Gaza town of Khan Younis, Palestinian security sources said.

Israeli military sources said troops in the area had been shot at by Palestinian gunmen and returned fire but could not say if they had hit anyone.

Sunday's violence comes two days after two Palestinian gunmen dressed in army uniforms shot dead four seminary students, including two off-duty soldiers, in the Jewish settlement of Otniel near the West Bank city of Hebron.

The gunmen were later shot and killed by soldiers.

The militant Islamic Jihad group said it carried out the attack in retaliation for Israel's killing of the eight Palestinians earlier in the week.

Palestinian fighters have often targeted Jewish settlements during the more than two-year-old uprising. The international community says the settlements are illegal. Israel disputes this.

Hundreds of Palestinians, including many children, took part in Sunday's funeral for the girl killed in Gaza.

"She was my only daughter and I loved her very much," said her father.

About a dozen masked gunmen carried Hanin's body aloft and shouted: "Death to Israel."

In Israel, the father of Zvi Zeman, one of the four Israelis killed in the Otniel settlement attack, told reporters: "I hope very much that he will be the last victim of this war."

At least 1750 Palestinians and 675 Israelis have been killed since the Palestinian revolt began in September 2000 when peace talks failed.

- REUTERS

Herald feature: The Middle East