"13? I would have shot her if she was three." posted by Richard Seymour

The subterfuge lasted for a while. After an Israeli army captain shot a 13 year old girl seventeen times as she walked into a refugee camp, they tried a number of justifications. The girl, it was said, was walking toward an army checkpoint carrying a schoolbag and they feared she might be a bomber. An investigation by Major General Dan Harel, responsible for the Gaza strip, concluded that the officer "had not acted unethically".

Then, the radio exchange between the captain and other soldiers at the checkpoint was broadcast on Israeli television:

The soldier in the watchtower radioed his colleagues after he saw Iman: "It's a little girl. She's running defensively eastward."

Operations room: "Are we talking about a girl under the age of 10?"

Watchtower: "A girl of about 10, she's behind the embankment, scared to death."

A few minutes later, Iman is shot in the leg from one of the army posts.

The watchtower: "I think that one of the positions took her out."

The company commander then moves in as Iman lies wounded and helpless.

Captain R: "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."

Witnesses described how the captain shot Iman twice in the head, walked away, turned back and fired a stream of bullets into her body. Doctors at Rafah's hospital said she had been shot at least 17 times.

She was running "defensively eastward" toward the refugee camp, and she was "scared to death". Then, shot to death. The captain had been informed of her age, but later said:

"This is commander. Anything that's mobile, that moves in the zone, even if it's a three-year-old, needs to be killed. Over."

As someone once said, "the deliberate targeting of children is an especially heartless crime". But according to the Israeli army, one who does target children has "not acted unethically".