Palestinian Schoolgirl, 13, Killed, Shot 20 Times

[Chreteau]

"Iman Samir Al-Hams, aged 13, was shot to death by the Israeli occupying forces as she walked to school on Tuesday, 5 October, in the Rafah area. The girl, wearing her school uniform and carrying her backpack, was walking to the school with two of her classmates. When shots were fired, Iman tried to run away but was gunned down by the occupying forces. Her body was left on the ground for nearly two hours until the occupying forces allowed access to Palestinian rescue workers, who found her body riddled with 20 bullets."

Excerpt of a letter, from Ambassador Nasser Al-Kidwa, Permanent Observer of Palestine, to the United Nations Secretary-General and the President of the Security Council, October 7, 2004.

According to Ambassador Al-Kidwa, a total of twenty-six Palestinian children have been killed in the past week by Israeli forces. An attached list of those identified includes children as young as Luay Ayman Al-Najjar, a four-year-old.

What the hell is going on when our allies are killing schoolgirls in the street?

In recent years in the United States, our children have dealt with increased violence in public schools. Memories of school shootings such as Columbine have faded for most of us, however our children face the same threat every day.

Can you imagine if your children faced the threat of an occupying military force, willing to gun them down on the way to school, every single day?

Although both sides of the conflict can argue their respective cases -- Israel is committing acts of genocide against Palestinians -- Palestine is harboring terrorist groups such as Hamas -- there is no arguement to justify the killing of innocent children.

According to statistics released from ifAmericansKnew.org and RememberTheseChildren.org, 114 Israeli children have been killed by Palestinians and 642 Palestinian children have been killed by Israelis since September 29, 2000.

According to Catherine Cook of Media Monitors Network, "The majority of these children were killed and injured while going about normal daily activities, such as going to school, playing, shopping, or simply being in their homes. Sixty-four percent of children killed during the first six months of 2003 died as a result of Israeli air and ground attacks, or from indiscriminate fire from Israeli soldiers."

It's time to put an end to the killing of innocent children. Click here to find out how you can help.

"And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me. But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea." Matthew 18:5-6 (NIV)


A Palestinian girl waits with her family at an Israeli checkpoint.

[Chreteau]

In another news story, Israel claimed there was no way for soldiers to tell that thirteen-year-old Iman Al-Hams was a girl. Yet they found a reason to investigate Lieutenant General Moshe Ya'alon, who according to his own soldiers emptied an entire clip into the girl at point-blank range.

According to an article published today in UK's The Herald, "Soldiers said the commander had approached the girl, who had already been shot and possibly killed, and repeatedly shot her as they pleaded with him to stop."

How can you not know that a short individual, traveling toward a school in the morning with two other short individuals, all wearing school uniforms and carrying backpacks, are not children?

Although the international community, through the UN Security Council, along with the United States are calling on Israel to cease the violence in Gaza, U.S. Ambassador John Danforth vetoed a Security Council resolution demanding that Israel do so.

How can we continue to call Israel our allies?

I'm disgusted.

Palestinian girl hit by Israeli gunfire while studying at UN-run school in Gaza
Courtesy of UN News Centre

12 October 2004 – An 11-year-old Palestinian girl in the Gaza Strip has been taken to hospital for emergency surgery after she was struck by Israeli gunfire while sitting at her desk in a United Nations-run school this morning.

Ghadeer Jaber Mokheimer was hit in the stomach during classes at the school in the refugee camp at Khan Younis, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said in a statement issued in Jerusalem. The hospital described the condition of the grade five student as stable.

UNRWA said two shots were heard at about 10.45 a.m. from the direction of an Israeli army position on the border of the Gush Katif settlement and overlooking Khan Younis.

Noting it is the fourth incident of its kind in two years, and that the Agency has repeatedly asked Israeli authorities to stop firing at schools, UNRWA Commissioner-General Peter Hansen called for an immediate end to such shootings.

Most recently, 10-year-old Raghda Adnan Al-Assar was struck in the head on 7 September while sitting at her desk in a classroom of another UNRWA-run school in Khan Younis. She never regained consciousness and died on 22 September.

Even Soldiers Cannot Bear Brutality of Israeli Officer
Courtesy of Zaman Daily Newspaper

An Israeli army officer killed a 13-year-old Palestinian girl, Iman Al-Hams, and then reportedly emptied his gun of bullets on the body of the girl.

The incident occurred near the Rafah refugee camp on the Gaza Strip on October 5th and terrified even some Israeli soldiers. A soldier talking on Israeli radio described the incident: "The Palestinian girl was approaching the position with a bag in her hand. When soldiers opened fire, she started to run away, but she was quickly shot. Our officer approached the girl lying down and shot her twice in the head. He did not let it go and put the gun on automatic and emptied the charger over the girl who was already dead. We called to him to stop but he did not lend an ear to us."

The doctors cleaned 20 bullets from the body of Al-Hams, and it was discovered that she was carrying only books in her bag. Al-Hams' brother, Ihab, told Haaretz newspaper that his sister's death was an indication of the grudge that Israeli soldiers have against Palestinian people. Expressing that his sister never caused any danger, Ihab said, "More than 20 bullets were found in her body. The bullets messed up her head. Do Israelis want to show their corpses to the world like this?"

After the incident came to light, the Military's Prosecutor General, Avihay Mandlblit, started an investigation on the officer accused before the investigation on the incident was concluded. Mandlblit said that arguments during the investigation deepened after the soldiers told Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper that their commander shot the dead body.

Elsewhere, it was reported that two Palestinians died yesterday after being injured during the large-scale operation started by the Israeli army to prevent rocket assaults against Jewish settlements. 110 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli army over 12 days of the operation.


Iman al-Hams, 13, was hit by 20 bullets.

[HatePirate]

Ghadeer Jaber Mokheimer was hit in the stomach during classes

With a name like that, how can you expect not to get hit?

[Chreteau]

When one soldier, or even a small group of soldiers, commits an illegal act, the media and humanitarian groups tend to exagerate those acts. The end result is a loss of credibility with the public.

The United States experienced this same issue recently with the Abu Ghriab prison incident. Although many soldiers stationed at the prison acted professionally, a small number of them were involved in the systematic abuse of prisoners. In the coverage by media and humanitarian groups, the efforts of the majority of soldiers was overshadowed.

In a discussion with U.S. special forces operatives yesterday, several issues were brought to my attention, the most fundamental issue being the integrity and moral values of the professional soldier.

Although the killing of innocent children in a military conflict is tragic, it is sometimes unavoidable.

In the case of Iman al-Hams, Israeli soldiers were firing at the source of shelling against their troops. Unfortunately Palestinian fighters use children and schools as human shields. One U.S. special forces member informed me that he has witnessed Israeli soldiers place themselves between children and incoming fire.

Exceprt from CNN regarding Iman al-Hams

"The Israeli military said initially that soldiers believed the girl was carrying a bomb in her school bag and said rules of engagement had been followed.

The matter became a controversy in Israel when it was determined the girl was hit by as many as 20 bullets and two Israeli soldiers said their commander repeatedly shot her.

The soldiers contacted Israel's largest newspaper, Yediot Ahrohnot.

"I was sure she was 12 or maybe younger. I reported it over the two-way radio," one soldier told the newspaper.

He said shots were fired and the girl fell to the ground.

"Then our commander shot her twice. He made sure she was dead and then, I don't know why, but he decided to turn back towards her body and unloaded a round of bullets into it ... this was the most revolting thing I have ever seen as a soldier," the Israeli said."

Click here for the full story.

[Chreteau]

Released over the AP wire an hour ago:

Israeli Army Arrests Officer in Shooting of 13-Year-Old Palestinian Girl
Courtesy of The Associated Press

JERUSALEM (AP) - The Israeli army on Tuesday arrested an officer accused of repeatedly shooting a 13-year-old Palestinian girl at point-blank range to make sure she was dead as his soldiers pleaded with him to stop.

A preliminary hearing by army commanders had cleared the officer of wrongdoing, but further investigation by military police raised suspicions he gave false testimony, prompting his arrest Tuesday, an army statement said.

He was not immediately charged, military officials said.

Soldiers fired at the girl, Iyman Hams, as she approached a military observation post near the Rafah refugee camp in the Gaza Strip on Oct. 5, suspecting she was planting a bomb. The girl's family said she was on her way to school when she was shot.

Soldiers from the unit later told Israeli media that the officer, whose name has not been released, walked up to the girl after she was hit, then riddled her bleeding body with a burst of automatic fire, in an outlawed practice known as "verifying the kill."

It is not known whether the girl was dead or still alive when he shot her.

The army's southern region commander, Maj. Gen. Dan Harel, said on Oct. 15 that he found no "unethical" behavior by the officer or his soldiers in the shooting.

Israeli soldiers have become increasingly wary of Palestinian teenagers and women after several carried out suicide bombings or transported explosives.

Hundreds of Palestinian children and teens have been killed by army fire in the past four years, often in clashes between stone throwers and Israeli troops. The army rarely launches investigations into the incidents.

The accused officer had said that as he approached the girl's body, he came under fire from Palestinian gunmen at least 300 yards away, then shot at the ground to deter their fire, a military official said at the time of the first inquiry. A soldier in an observation tower believed the shots were aimed at the girl's body, the official said.

The official could not explain why the officer shot into the ground rather than at the source of the fire.

Palestinian hospital officials said the girl was shot at least 15 times, mostly in the upper body.