Date:13/12/2004 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2004/12/13/stories/2004121304001300.htm

International

Five children wounded in Israeli firing

GAZA CITY, DEC. 12. The Israeli army fired three tank shells at the Khan Younis refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip on Sunday, wounding five schoolchildren and lightly wounding two others, Palestinian officials said.

The army denied firing tank shells, saying it used only light weapons to target militants attempting to launch a mortar shell. Associated Press Television News footage showed a large hole in the roof of a building behind the school that appeared to house a playground.

Palestinian officials said the shell wounded seven children, two of whom were treated at the scene. The other students, aged 8-12, suffered shrapnel wounds and were taken to the hospital with moderate injuries, Palestinian medical officials said.

``There is nothing to justify this random shelling,'' an official said.

Two projectiles

The attack came after Palestinian militants fired a mortar shell at an Israeli target in the southern Gaza Strip, causing no damage or injuries, the army said. Settlers said militants had fired two other projectiles at a settlement near Khan Younis overnight.

Israel often retaliates against militant attacks. On Friday, Israeli troops killed a 7-year-old Palestinian girl in southern Gaza as they shot toward militants who had fired mortar shells at a nearby Jewish settlement.

The firing of mortar shells and rockets at settlements in Gaza and nearby towns in Israel has threatened the Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon's plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip next summer. Palestinian militants hope an escalation of violence in Gaza will make it appear as if Israel is fleeing the area. Palestinian militants also fired three mortar shells and a homemade rocket toward Jewish settlements in the northern Gaza Strip on Sunday, damaging a building, but causing no injuries, the army said.

Most of the projectiles fell in open areas in the northern coastal strip, inside Israel, the army said. One of the shells damaged a building in the Jewish settlement of Nissanit, settlers said. — AP