Death of Palestinian Teenager Is Denounced

An Israeli human rights group protested the shooting death of a Palestinian teenager in a northern West Bank village, saying Thursday that he was used as a “human shield” by soldiers who sent him to warn a Hamas leader to surrender.

Nineteen-year-old Nidal Daraghmeh was shot as he approached the house of Hamas militant Nasser Jerar, a wheelchair user who was later crushed to death when Israeli soldiers bulldozed his house.

Hamas spokesman Abdulaziz Rantisi said Jerar’s death late Wednesday “will not pass without strong punishment.”

In a statement, the military said Jerar had continued his Hamas activities despite losing both arms and a leg while trying to plant a bomb in May 2001.

The military also said Jerar recruited suicide bombers and was planning a bombing aimed at bringing down an unidentified high-rise building in Israel.

Before demolishing the house in the village of Tubas, the military gave Daraghmeh, a local resident, a bulletproof vest and ordered him to go to Jerar’s residence and tell the 44-year-old militant to surrender, the army and Palestinian witnesses said.

But as Daraghmeh approached the house, he was hit by gunfire. Palestinians charged that Israeli gunfire killed him, while the army said that he was hit by shots from inside the house.

The Israeli human rights group B’Tselem charged that soldiers used Daraghmeh as a “human shield.” The army said it was trying to prevent civilian deaths by having Daraghmeh warn anyone who may have been in the house with Jerar.

Amid continuing violence Thursday, an Israeli tank advancing to the edge of the Khan Yunis refugee camp in the Gaza Strip killed a 5-year-old Palestinian boy, Palestinian security sources and hospital officials said.

They said two Palestinian men were wounded when they tried to help the boy, Ayman Fares, who was lying outside his house in the densely populated area.

A Palestinian security source said the tank opened fire “without reason.” But an Israeli army spokesman said gunmen fired on Israeli forces, who returned fire and injured one of the men. The army said it had no information about the shooting of a boy.

The camp abuts a Jewish settlement guarded by Israeli troops, and the area is prone to violence linked to the 22-month Palestinian uprising.

Also in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli army said it shot and killed two armed Palestinians carrying a large bag north of the Israeli crossing of Kissufim. The men had a bomb, the army said.