OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, 25 November 2002 — The United Nations voiced anger yesterday over Israel’s killing of a UN official in the West Bank, as Israel pressed ahead with military operations against Palestinians it says are behind bombings.
The Israeli Army admitted its forces killed Iain Hook, a British UNRWA official killed on Friday during a skirmish with Palestinians in the Jenin refugee camp, saying troops mistook an object he was holding in his hand for a weapon.
“I am very sad and angry that the man was shot dead while working in a clearly marked UN compound,” said Paul McCann, a spokesman for the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).
Commenting on its own preliminary investigation of the Jenin shooting, the army said Palestinian gunmen were firing at troops from inside the UNRWA compound and through a nearby alley during an operation to arrest a wanted man.
“It appears that two soldiers saw in the UNRWA compound — from where Palestinian gunmen were shooting at Israeli forces — a man with an object that looked like a gun and they fired at him,” the army said. The UN disputes the Israeli contention.
Meanwhile, in Bethlehem, Israeli forces maintained a tight grip on the city they reoccupied after a Palestinian bombing killed 11 people on a Jerusalem bus on Thursday.
