Khalil al-Mughrabi

Khalil al-Mughrabi, a Palestinian boy aged 11, was killed on 7 July 2001, by shots fired from an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) tank while Khalil was playing soccer with his friends in Rafah. His two friends, aged 10 and 12, were also injured. Though internal documents indicated otherwise, the IDF said no investigation was warranted. This incident took place during the Second Intifada.

Death
The incident occurred on 7 July 2001, in the Yubneh Refugee Camp (Rafah refugee camp), located on the outskirts of the city of Rafah, in southern Gaza Strip, near the Egyptian border. According to United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), the Rafah Camp houses 173,006 (31 December 2008) Palestinian refugees since 1949., among them 98,872 are in the camp and 74,134 are living outside the camp. The Israeli NGO B'Tselem conducted an independent investigation. According to its findings, twenty to thirty children were playing in the Yubneh Refugee Camp that afternoon, and they The children reportedly saw an Israeli tank moving towards the Gitrit military encampment around 5PM. al-Mughrabi arrived at the site at 5:30 PM with a friend, 13 year old Suleiman al-Akhras. The two of them played soccer in the field until 6:45 PM. After the children had finished playing many sat near mounds of sand near the border fence, among them al-Mughrabi. At 7:10 PM, al-Mughrabi was shot in the head.

The children reported that the shots had come from the observation tower of the Gitrit encampment, approximately one kilometer from where the children had been playing. More shots were fired at the children, wounding another two children. Ibrahim Kamel Abu Susin, 10, was shot in the stomach and Suleiman Turki Abu Rijal, 12, was shot in the left leg. al-Mughrabi was evacuated the by civilians who had arrived on the scene. An ambulance took the two wounded children to the hospital.

The following testimonies were collected by B'Tselem: We divided into a few teams of six and played a few games. About fifteen minutes before we finished playing, an Israeli tank drove along the border. It arrived from Salah a-Din Gate and drove west toward the Tel Zu'arub post, where there is a very tall military tower that overlooks the whole area. After we finished playing, we sat down to rest. Some of us sat alongside the sand piles that are near the border fence. Others sat on the top of the piles. While we were resting, the soldiers in the tower suddenly fired a bullet. We didn't hear it until it entered Khalil's head. Khalil, who was sitting on top of one of the piles, fell down immediately. His head burst and parts of it flew toward the children who were near him.

On the evening of Saturday (7 July 2009), I was playing with about thirty more children at a soccer field near the border, in Yubneh Refugee Camp. The game started after the afternoon prayer, i.e., around 5:00 P.M. After a while, a tank drove along the border. It came from the east and drove west, toward Tel Zu'arub military tower there. The tank passed by quietly without shooting at us. After we finished playing, we lay on the ground to rest. Some of us sat on the piles of sand near the border. Around 7:10 P.M., I stood up and told the kids to leave the place. I was two meters away from Khalil. Then I heard a faint sound and saw Khalil's brain flying out of his head and splattering all over my face and clothes.

De-briefings by IDF
The incident occurred within the military designation zone of the 424 infantry battalion of the 84th "Giv'ati" Infantry Brigade, IDF's 366th (Reserve) Armor Division, Israeli Southern Command. According to Holi Moshe, Major Operations Directorate Officer of Division 6643 and the Summary of battalion and brigade commanders' de-briefings dated 14 July 2001: "It is impossible to unequivocally determine that the child was killed by our forces' gunfire."

According to the Opinion of the Israeli Southern Command Judge Advocate, Baruch Y. Mani, Lt. Colonel, dated 29 August 2001: (A) It appears that tank fire was used as warning shots, which the regulations prohibit. The de-briefing itself specifies that the tank fire was a mistake (for reasons unrelated to the regulations). There was no mention of what measures, if any, were taken with regards to this shooting.

(B) The de-briefings mention that warning shots were toward the children. The regulations do stipulate that no warning shots should be fired to get children away from restricted areas on roadsides (section 19 of the Ahuda [sic] Regulation).

(C) It appears that the IDF response given to the press, claiming that there was no use of heavy weapons, was wrong.

Einat Ron, Colonel Israel's Chief Military Prosecutor wrote to B'Tselem  dated 31 October 2001 stating: "...we have not found any suspicion of criminal behavior on the part of the IDF soldiers, or that there is a just cause to open an investigation."

Eye Witnesses
Muhammad Salah, who witnessed the incident said: "I spent the entire night after that dreaming about the incident, and about Khalil's brain flying in the air and splattering on my body. The morning after, I went to the sheik in Al-Hoda mosque and told him the story. He started reading from the Koran and told me I had to pray and read the Koran all the time."

Another witness, Suleiman al-Akhras said: "The terrible sight that I saw in this incident shocked me so much that I couldn't speak for six hours."