More Palestinian children killed
The Palestine Monitor
26 March 2003
Israeli soldiers last night shot and killed a 10 year old girl during their assassination of another Palestinian in Bethlehem.
According to witnesses, Israeli uniformed and plain clothed soldiers entered Bethlehem in the late afternoon, and opened fire on two cars that were driving on a main road in a residential area in the vicinity of the Shepherd's Hotel.
Muwaiq Abdel Raziq Badawni, 40 years old from the Aida refugee camp, and two other men, as yet unidentified, were killed. According to a report from the Beit Jala governmental hospital, Badawni died as a result being shot in the head with live ammunition; the bodies of the two other men are still with the Israeli military. It is assumed that Badawni was the target of this latest Israeli extra judicial execution which are illegal under international law and the Geneva Convention.
George Saidi', a school teacher from Bethlehem, his wife Najwa and their two daughters, Marianne, 12, and Christine, 10, were driving on the same road when their car was also fired on by Israeli soldiers. All four members of the family were shot, and were taken to the Hadassa hospital in Jerusalem, however Christine died on the way. Later the body of the ten year old was transferred to the Beit Jala governmental hospital; according to the doctors at the hospital she died from a bullet to her head. The doctors also commented that her wounds were consistent with an "exploding" or high velocity bullet.
Christine is the third child to be killed by Israeli troops in two days. 14 year old Hakim Bassam Nassas, aged 14 was also shot dead yesterday in Jenin. On March 24, Ahmed Imad A-Bahri, aged 10, also from Jenin was shot in the head by an Israeli sniper.