Israeli shots kill UN man during ceasefire bid

JERUSALEM - The Israeli Army has admitted that its troops shot and killed a United Nations official on the West Bank.

Some Israeli radio stations said Briton Iain Hook, who UN colleagues said had been calling Israelis to try to arrange a ceasefire during a gunbattle on Saturday, was shot when soldiers mistook his mobile phone for a weapon.

In its initial report, the Army said Hook, a UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) manager in Jenin, was carrying an object that soldiers thought was a gun.

UNRWA spokesman Paul McCann said Hook was trying to move his staff after a firefight erupted near the UN compound.

"He had been making requests with the Israelis to call a ceasefire to allow our staff and some vulnerable civilians living nearby to be evacuated from the area."

The Army said Palestinians fired at troops from inside the UNRWA compound and through a nearby alley.

"It appears that two soldiers saw in the UNRWA compound a man with an object that looked like a gun and they fired at him," the Army said.

McCann said the report of firing from the compound was "totally incredible".

The UN has officially accused Israeli forces of delaying an ambulance summoned for Hook, who was 54.

The Army said a military ambulance was sent to Hook's aid, but he was dead when it arrived.

Israeli forces said they raided the Jenin refugee camp in search of a member of Islamic Jihad accused of masterminding a suicide bombing in October that killed 14 people.

They said the person planned a suicide car bombing in Israel.

In other violence, two Palestinian suicide bombers detonated an explosives-laden fishing boat close to an Israeli patrol craft in waters near the Gaza Strip, wounding four sailors and slightly damaging the naval vessel. Islamic Jihad said the two suicide bombers, aged 19 and 21, were killed.

The Navy banned Palestinian fishing boats from the area after the incident.

In Bethlehem, Israeli forces continued a sweep for suspected militants after Thursday's Palestinian suicide bombing of a Jerusalem bus packed with commuters and schoolchildren that killed 11 people.

Military commanders said the soldiers were searching for around 30 people from the Bethlehem area who they say were involved in the bombing and were planning more attacks against Israelis.

Radio stations said 26 people wanted by Israel had been arrested.

Troops demolished the homes of four militants belonging to the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed group linked to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction, in Bethlehem on Saturday, Palestinian residents said.

In Washington, the United States State Department urged Israel to avoid harming Palestinian civilians during its operation, and said progress on "realising Palestinian aspirations" - diplomatic code for setting up a Palestinian state - was impossible as long as Palestinians carried out suicide bombing attacks.

- REUTERS


Further reading
Feature: Middle East

Related links