An Israeli army officer who admitted firing two shots from close range from his automatic rifle into a 13-year-old Palestinian girl to "verify the kill" was acquitted on all charges by a military court in Israel yesterday.
The officer, identified only as Captain R., denied allegations from some of his men that he sprayed the young girl with gunfire from head to toe.
He was charged a year ago with the relatively light charge of conduct unbecoming an officer, obstruction of justice, conduct unbecoming and improper use of authority and illegally firing a weapon in the death of Iman al-Hams.
Iman al-Hams was shot at least 20 times on Oct. 5, 2004, near an army outpost on her way to school in Rafah, a town on Gaza's border with Egypt.
Senior officers claimed the soldiers opened fire because they believed she was carrying a bomb or had been sent by militants to lure them out so they could be picked off by snipers.
No bomb was found and the girl's family denied she was acting on behalf of militants.
A recording of radio exchanges between Capt R and his troops obtained by Israeli television revealed that from the beginning soldiers identified Iman as a child.
In the recording, a soldier in a watchtower radioed a colleague in the army post's operations room and describes Iman as "a little girl" who was "scared to death".
After soldiers first opened fire, she dropped her schoolbag which was then hit by several bullets establishing that it did not contain explosive. At that point she was no longer carrying the bag and, the tape revealed, was heading away from the army post when she was shot.
Shortly afterwards Capt R can be heard on the recording saying that he has shot the girl and, believing her dead, then "confirmed the kill". "I and another soldier ... are going in a little nearer, forward, to confirm the kill ... Receive a situation report. We fired and killed her ... I also confirmed the kill. Over," he said.
Palestinian witnesses said they saw the captain shoot Iman twice in the head, walk away, turn back and fire a stream of bullets into her body. On the tape, Capt R then "clarifies" to the soldiers under his command why he killed Iman : "This is commander. Anything that's mobile, that moves in the (security) zone, even if it's a three -year-old, needs to be killed." At no point did the Israeli troops come under attack.
"The officer was found innocent of all charges," the army said in a statement, expressing "regret at the death of Iman al-Hams".
Captain R told reporters that he was delighted with the verdict.
The Palestinian Authority condemned the verdict as racist.
The girl's brother, Ehab al-Hams, 26, accused the army of a whitewash. "We have never expected to be dealt with fairly by the Israeli judiciary system," he said afterwards.
The Palestinian Authority issued a statement saying the ruling would only "encourage occupation soldiers to practise cold-blooded killing".
The case has revived human rights groups' charges that Israeli troops use excessive force against Palestinians and are almost never punished by the military for their actions.
Israel says its soldiers behave ethically in the face of Palestinian militants who often use suicide tactics, and that all abuse complaints are investigated.
Agencies