http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/511403.html<snip>
"Israel Defense Forces troops killed a 15-year-old Palestinian boy last March while on a hike in the Gaza Strip marking their graduation from basic training. In the course of the hike, near the Morag settlement in the south of the Strip, the Givati Brigade soldiers fired live rounds, hitting Khaled Mahdi, who was in a field at the time with his father. The Ynet Web site of the Yedioth Aharonoth daily reported yesterday that the case is under investigation by military prosecutors and awaits a verdict by the Military Advocate General.
The boy's father, Suleiman Mahdi, claims the gunfire was not accidental. "Seven bullets pierced Khaled's head, so you can't talk here about a mistake or random gunfire. This was an act of direct and clear sharpshooting."
The Mahdi family lives in Khan Yunis. According to the father, he was working with Khaled and two of his other sons out in the open in the family's field. Ground-clearing operations had previously been conducted in the area, so there could not have been any hidden danger to the soldiers who passed by not far away. "The area is wide open and contains nothing special. The only thing was the shooting at us, which killed Khaled," the father said.
According to one report, the boy was hit in the head by a heavy IDF machine gun.
The IDF Spokesman announced that Military Police had investigated the incident, but no decision has been reached in the matter by the military prosecution. Soldiers and officers involved in the incident admitted there was no justification for shooting the boy, since he posed no threat, and the gunfire in question was not for operational purposes."
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