Arab Girl, 3, Killed by Stray Army Bullet in Gaza Clash

A stray bullet fired by an Israel soldier killed a 3-year-old Arab girl on Saturday in a refugee camp in the Israeli-occupied Gaza Strip, where troops battled stone-throwing Palestinians, Arab reports said.

The army confirmed the death but said it was checking on the circumstances.

In the West Bank, masked attackers killed three Arabs suspected of collaborating with Israeli authorities, army, Arab and radio reports said.

The 3-year-old, Bothina Adib Hejow, was playing in the road inside the Khan Yunis refugee camp when she was hit by the stray bullet.

At least three Palestinians were shot and wounded in the Khan Yunis stone-throwing clash, according to hospital reports.

Fourteen other Palestinians were wounded by gunfire in other clashes with the army in the occupied territories, hospital officials said. The army said it was checking the reports of wounded.

Elsewhere, three Arabs suspected of collaborating with Israel were killed. Near Nablus, the largest West Bank city, the masked attackers repeatedly stabbed Murshed Kaniery, 55, after accusing him of collaboration, Arab reports said. He died later in a hospital. In Biddiya village near Tulkarm in the West Bank, another masked group hanged 30-year-old schoolteacher Jamal Taha in his school’s courtyard, the reports said.

The army confirmed the two deaths and said it was checking the circumstances. Israel Radio reported the death of a third, also in the West Bank, but gave no details.

In a related development, a Palestinian guerrilla group Saturday urged the United Nations to intervene after Israel’s decision on Friday to double to one year the period it may detain Arabs without trial.

The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, in a statement, condemned the move as a “barbaric act” and said it is a “clear example of Israel’s heedless policy toward human rights. . . .”

On Friday night in southern Lebanon, Israeli troops and allied Lebanese militiamen shot and wounded a guerrilla whose unit planned to infiltrate Israel, the army said. The wounded man was captured, but his companions escaped.