GAZA: AMATEUR VIDOE SHOWS ARMY COMMANDER CONFESSING TO CARRYING OUT A "CONFIRMED KILLING" ON A 13-YEAR-OLD GIRL

Record ID: 649430

  • Title: GAZA: AMATEUR VIDOE SHOWS ARMY COMMANDER CONFESSING TO CARRYING OUT A "CONFIRMED KILLING" ON A 13-YEAR-OLD GIRL
  • Date: 23rd November 2004
  • Summary: (W5) RAFAH, GAZA (OCTOBER 5, 2004) (REUTERS) SLV OF BODY IMAN EL-HAMS BEING BROUGHT TO MORGUE SV/CU OF WOMEN WEEPING (2 SHOTS) SV/CU OF OF WREATH WITH PHOTOGRAPH OF GIRL (2 SHOTS)
  • Embargoed: 8th December 2004 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: RAFAH, GAZA
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Topics: Conflict,General,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA9ZVEVQLA2DK4YN7SHPE7C3L16
  • Story Text: Amateur video shows army commander confessing to carrying out a "confirmed killing" on a 13-year-old girl.
    In rare footage given to Reuters by the Israeli media on Tuesday (November 23), a commander who was indicted by the Israeli army for conduct unbecoming an officer and illegal discharge of a weapon, is heard saying that he "confirmed the killing", military slang for firing into bodies of combatants believed to be dead to ensure they present no further danger.
    Military police investigating the October 5 killing of Iman al-Hams in the southern Gaza Strip arrested the company commander three weeks ago after finding his earlier account of the incident was false, the army said.
    Hams was shot some 20 times near an army outpost on her way to school in Rafah, a town on Gaza's border with Egypt that has seen frequent violence during a 4-year-old Palestinian uprising.
    The army launched a probe after unidentified troops from the outpost told Israeli media the commander went out and fired at Hams although the unit's initial shots had already killed her.
    During his investigation he said he could not say confidently that she was dead. "Twenty seconds after I left her she still took another breath," he told the military investigator in exclusive footage provided to an Israeli television program.
    The indictment said the captain began walking back to the outpost but then "turned around ... and fired (at Hams), in full automatic mode, around 10 bullets, until his rifle magazine was empty".
    It was not immediately clear how the captain would plead to the charges, nor how much jail time he could get if convicted.
    The case has revived human rights groups' charges that Israeli troops use excessive force in the West Bank and Gaza.
    The Israeli army insists its troops behave ethically in the face of Palestinian militants who often use suicide tactics, and that all abuse complaints are investigated.
    Army chief Mote Yaalon told Israel's cabinet the troops in the outpost believed the girl had been sent by militants to lure them out so they could be picked off by snipers. He said she approached the post on a path only used by the military.
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