RAMALLAH: Israeli troops yesterday shot dead a nine-year-old Palestinian boy during a protest against Israel’s separation wall in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian medical sources said.
Hammad Hossam Mussa was hit in the chest by a live bullet fired by Israeli soldiers during a demonstration in the village of Nilin, said Salah Al-Khawaja, a member of Nilin’s Committee Against the Wall. Mussa died of his wounds while being transported to hospital in an ambulance shortly afterward, the medical sources told AFP.
According to Khawaja, soldiers fired live rounds toward a group of protesters who had run into Nilin after the army dispersed protesters outside the flash point village using rubber-coated metal bullets.
“Protesters arrived at the wall’s construction site outside the village and the soldiers started to open fire with rubber-coated metal bullets and tear gas. This pushed the protesters back into the village where the boy was hit by a live bullet in his chest,” Khawaja told AFP.
Fifteen people were injured by rubber-coated metal bullets during the demonstration in Nilin, which has in recent months become a site of regular violent demonstrations against Israel’s controversial separation wall.
Meanwhile, Hamas warned its Fatah rivals yesterday that a crackdown against the Islamist group by forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas could spark a revolt in the occupied West Bank. A senior Palestinian security official in Ramallah dismissed the threats by “irresponsible people.”
Abbas’ security forces have detained at least 150 Hamas supporters in the West Bank in response to a sweep in the Gaza Strip, where Hamas seized nearly 200 Fatah sympathizers after a bomb blast killed five Hamas fighters and a girl on Friday. Hamas blamed the bombing on Fatah, which denies involvement.
In Gaza City, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said the crackdown in the West Bank could trigger a revolt. “This will only lead to a new uprising against the (Israeli) occupation and its security agents,” he said in a mocking reference to Palestinian Authority forces.
Hamas often taunts Abbas and Fatah for their commitment to US-sponsored peace talks with Israel, which controls the West Bank, while allowing a role for Palestinian security forces.
“Now the Zionists (Israelis) are protecting you,” Hamas said in a separate statement addressed to security forces in the West Bank. “You know that once the protection of the Zionists is over, people will enter your headquarters and kick you out.”
