Israeli troops kill 14-year-old Palestinian girl, 2 others, in West Bank

UPI
Dec. 20, 2006

TEL AVIV, Israel, Dec. 19 (UPI) -- Israeli troops Tuesday killed three Palestinians, including a 14-year-old girl, as rival Fatah and Hamas fight in the Palestinian territories.

The girl, identified as Daha Abdul Kader, and a 12-year-old friend who was seriously injured, were shot while approaching Israel's security barrier near Tul Karem in the West Bank.

The Israeli Ha'aretz newspaper said the soldiers saw suspicious people approach and opened fire. The army spokesman said they are investigating the incident.

Earlier in the day, soldiers killed Rami Anab, 24, near the Ittihad Hospital in Nablus. The army spokesman said they had gone to arrest Anab and he tried to flee in a car and was shot. Security sources said the shooting occurred outside a hospital because that is where he hid.

According to their account, Lebanon's Hezbollah organization controlled Anab's cell and he was involved in efforts to carry out suicide bombings.

On Tuesday afternoon, troops went to arrest Mohammad Hamad, 23. According to the army spokesman, he saw them coming, drew a handgun, and was shot.

Israeli security sources said that in the past few months Hamad directed a number of cells that carried out bomb attacks in the Tul Karem area and planned terror attacks against Israeli civilians.

The Israeli-Palestinian cease-fire involves the Gaza Strip but Palestinians have been demanding Israel hold its fire in the West Bank as well.

Israelis have been concerned that the heavy Fatah-Hamas clashes in Gaza could spark new attacks on Israel, if only to shift anger to it. The girl's death might be such a trigger.