Palestinian boy shot dead by Israeli forces

1.00pm - By DON MACINTYRE in Jerusalem

A nine-year-old Palestinian boy was shot dead by Israeli forces yesterday as he played football, local residents said after armoured vehicles once again entered the Southern Gaza town of Rafah.

The boy, named as Omar Za'ran, was pronounced dead by medics at Rafah hospital who tried to revive him after he was brought in from the Brazil section of the town's refugee camp.

Bashir Abu Jlidan, 18 said: "We were playing soccer when Israeli tanks ... started firing inside the camp and towards us." He said the boy had fallen to the ground bleeding.

Palestinian sources said a force of 15 armoured vehicles backed by Apache helicopters had entered the town in what the Army said was a mission to find and destroy tunnels used by militants to smuggle weapons. The Army said last night it was still checking on reports of the boy's death.

The Army, which was still operating in Rafah last night, said it had discovered the shaft of a tunnel under some abandoned stores in the vicinity of the Brazil camp. The Palestinian sources said the force had begun to destroy houses in the area.

Meanwhile witnesses said Israeli helicopters fired two missiles into the Northern Gaza area of Beit Hanoun, injuring people, one critically, close to where militants were planting bombs.

Beit Hanoun was encircled by Israeli tanks in a military offensive launched on Tuesday to stop repeats of the lethal rocket attack launched on the Israeli town of Sderot a day earlier. The Qassam rocket attacks killed two Israelis, including a three-year-old boy.

Israeli military bulldozers yesterday began destroying olive groves and orchards in Beit Hanoun to strip militants of cover. Israeli military sources have said troops could remain there for months to stop militants launching rockets.

And in a third Gaza incident Israeli military sources said last night that at least one armed Palestinian gunman had been shot dead after a group of militants were identified by an Army patrol protecting the Jewish settlement of Netzarim.

Earlier yesterday Israeli forces launched a relatively rare raid into the normally quiet West Bank town of Jericho. The army said it had arrested 30 wanted Palestinians and found weapons including rifles and grenades. Witnesses in the ancient city said troops had pulled out after blowing up two flats and a house.

Meanwhile the High Court ordered a temporary ban on construction of a section of Israel's West Bank separation barrier to the south of Jerusalem a day after forbidding the Army to route 30 kilometers of the barrier as it had wanted to the North West of the city.

The development came as the US publicly expressed its irritation at Israel's continued failure to commit itself to the destruction of all 28 settlement outposts on a list being discussed by the two governments.

Sixteen of the outposts were reportedly designated by Israel as "awaiting government approval".

Paul Patin, the US embassy spokesman in Tel Aviv said: "You can't create an illegal outpost one day and subsequently declare that it's legal."

Menachem Mazuz, the Attorney General yesterday called on the Defence Ministry to issue a formal warning to Colonel Dan Tirza, the reserve military officer responsible for planning the barrier's route after publicly criticised Wednesday's high court decision as a "black day for Israel".

- INDEPENDENT