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" Israeli officer: I was right to shoot 13-year-old
child" <br><br>
<br><br>
The Guardian.<br>
Nov. 24,2004<br><br>
<br>
Israeli officer: I was right to shoot 13-year-old child<br><br>
Radio exchange contradicts army version of Gaza killing<br><br>
Chris McGreal in Jerusalem<br>
Wednesday November 24, 2004<br>
The Guardian<br><br>
An Israeli army officer who repeatedly shot a 13-year-old Palestinian
girl<br>
in Gaza dismissed a warning from another soldier that she was a child
by<br>
saying he would have killed her even if she was three years old.<br>
The officer, identified by the army only as Captain R, was charged this
week<br>
with illegal use of his weapon, conduct unbecoming an officer and
other<br>
relatively minor infractions after emptying all 10 bullets from his
gun's<br>
magazine into Iman al-Hams when she walked into a "security
area" on the<br>
edge of Rafah refugee camp last month.<br><br>
A tape recording of radio exchanges between soldiers involved in
the<br>
incident, played on Israeli television, contradicts the army's account
of<br>
the events and appears to show that the captain shot the girl in cold
blood.<br><br>
The official account claimed that Iman was shot as she walked towards
an<br>
army post with her schoolbag because soldiers feared she was carrying
a<br>
bomb.<br><br>
But the tape recording of the radio conversation between soldiers at
the<br>
scene reveals that, from the beginning, she was identified as a child and
at<br>
no point was a bomb spoken about nor was she described as a threat. Iman
was<br>
also at least 100 yards from any soldier.<br><br>
Instead, the tape shows that the soldiers swiftly identified her as a
"girl<br>
of about 10" who was "scared to death".<br><br>
The tape also reveals that the soldiers said Iman was headed eastwards,
away<br>
from the army post and back into the refugee camp, when she was
shot.<br><br>
At that point, Captain R took the unusual decision to leave the post
in<br>
pursuit of the girl. He shot her dead and then "confirmed the
kill" by<br>
emptying his magazine into her body.<br><br>
The tape recording is of a three-way conversation between the army<br>
watchtower, the army post's operations room and the captain, who was
a<br>
company commander.<br><br>
The soldier in the watchtower radioed his colleagues after he saw
Iman:<br>
"It's a little girl. She's running defensively
eastward."<br><br>
Operations room: "Are we talking about a girl under the age of
10?"<br><br>
Watchtower: "A girl of about 10, she's behind the embankment, scared
to<br>
death."<br><br>
A few minutes later, Iman is shot in the leg from one of the army
posts.<br><br>
The watchtower: "I think that one of the positions took her
out."<br><br>
The company commander then moves in as Iman lies wounded and
helpless.<br><br>
Captain R: "I and another soldier ... are going in a little nearer,
forward,<br>
to confirm the kill ... Receive a situation report. We fired and killed
her<br>
... I also confirmed the kill. Over."<br><br>
Witnesses described how the captain shot Iman twice in the head,
walked<br>
away, turned back and fired a stream of bullets into her body. Doctors
at<br>
Rafah's hospital said she had been shot at least 17 times.<br><br>
On the tape, the company commander then "clarifies" why he
killed Iman:<br>
"This is commander. Anything that's mobile, that moves in the zone,
even if<br>
it's a three-year-old, needs to be killed. Over."<br><br>
The army's original account of the killing said that the soldiers
only<br>
identified Iman as a child after she was first shot. But the tape shows
that<br>
they were aware just how young the small, slight girl was before any
shots<br>
were fired.<br><br>
The case came to light after soldiers under the command of Captain R went
to<br>
an Israeli newspaper to accuse the army of covering up the circumstances
of<br>
the killing.<br><br>
A subsequent investigation by the officer responsible for the Gaza
strip,<br>
Major General Dan Harel, concluded that the captain had "not
acted<br>
unethically".<br><br>
However, the military police launched an investigation, which resulted
in<br>
charges against the unit commander.<br><br>
Iman's parents have accused the army of whitewashing the affair by
filing<br>
minor charges against Captain R. They want him prosecuted for
murder.<br><br>
Record of a shooting<br><br>
Watchtower<br>
'It's a little girl. She's running defensively eastward'<br>
Operations room<br>
'Are we talking about a girl under the age of 10?'<br>
Watchtower<br>
'A girl of about 10, she's behind the embankment, scared to death'<br>
Captain R (after killing the girl)<br>
'Anything moving in the zone, even a three-year-old, needs to be
killed'<br>
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