Israeli soldiers shot dead an 11-year-old boy in the West Bank this morning, the second Palestinian child killed by Israeli gunfire in two days, witnesses said.
With world attention focused on possible US war on Iraq, Israeli-Palestinian violence has surged since Israeli forces killed eight Palestinians in operations against militants in the West Bank and Gaza Strip on Wednesday and Thursday.
In the latest bloodshed, Abdel-Karim Salameh (11), was hit in the head and killed by Israeli gunfire in the West Bank city of Tulkarm while walking home from school, about 500 metres (yards) from a crowd throwing stones at soldiers, witnesses said.
Another boy was wounded, they added. Israeli military sources said they had no information on Palestinian casualties and that troops had used riot dispersal gear, which can include sometimes lethal rubber-coated metal bullets, against the stone-throwers.
Yesterday, Israeli soldiers shot dead nine-year-old Hanin Abu Suleiman outside her home in the Gaza town of Khan Younis, Palestinian security sources said.
Israeli military sources said troops in the area had been shot at and returned fire but could not say if they had hit anyone. The violence in Gaza came a day after two Palestinian gunmen dressed in army uniforms shot dead four seminary students, including two off-duty soldiers, in the Jewish settlement of Otniel near the West Bank city of Hebron.
The gunmen were later shot and killed by soldiers. The militant Islamic Jihad group said it carried out the attack in retaliation for Israel's killing of the eight Palestinians earlier in the week.