lennart
23-11-02, 14:09
An initial IDF investigation into the death of Iain Cook, a British UNWRA official who was killed Friday during a gunfight between soldiers and Palestinians in the West Bank city of Jenin, revealed that he was mistakenly shot by an IDF soldier.
Israel Radio reported that Cook was shot by accident after emerging from a caravan during the gunfight holding a mobile phone, which was mistaken by the soldier for a grenade.
UK demands that Israel investigate death of Cook
Great Britain is demanding that Israel fully investigate the death of the 50-year-old Cook, the first foreign UN official to die in over two years of fighting.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said that Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed sorrow over Hook's death, and promised that Israel would fully investigate the incident.
In the Jenin shootout, Hook was killed while trying to evacuate
staff from the small UN compound, made up of mobile trailers, in the Jenin refugee camp during a prolonged clash between IDF soldiers and Palestinian gunmen, a UN statement said.
At the time, IDF troops had surrounded a nearby hide-out of a wanted
Islamic Jihad leader, Abdullah Wahsh, demanding that he surrender. Palestinian gunmen fired at the troops, and an exchange of fire erupted, Palestinian witnesses said. Hundreds of Palestinian youngsters threw stones at the soldiers, who returned fire and called in helicopter gunships, the witnesses said.
"Several bullets hit the trailer and hit him," UN spokesman Sami Mshasha
said. Mshasha added that UN investigators were expected to arrive in Jenin later in the day, and that Hook's body would be taken to Jerusalem for an autopsy in the evening.
A UN statement said IDF soldiers refused immediate access for an
ambulance to take Hook to the hospital, and that it wasn't known whether the delay caused Hook's death. An army spokeswoman, Capt. Sharon Feingold, said Hook was evacuated as soon as was possible.
The Jenin Hospital director, Mohammed Abu Ghali, said the bullets retrieved from the victim's abdomen were of the kind generally used by IDF soldiers.
An army statement said it hadn't been determined who fired the fatal shots and that the incident was under investigation.
Hook was a senior manager in UNRWA, the UN agency helping Palestinian
refugees, and was in charge of a $27 million project to rebuild the Jenin camp, which Israel has targeted frequently in search of militants responsible for attacks against Israelis.
Two local Palestinian workers for UNRWA were killed previously, Mshasha said.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan was "greatly disturbed" that the army
prevented the ambulance from getting through immediately, spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in New York.
Elsewhere in the camp in different shooting incidents, an 11-year-old
Palestinian boy was killed and an Irish national wounded.
Wat mij vooral op valt in het verhaal is dat het IDF de ambulance tegenhield. Deze standaard praktijken van het IDF zorgen er mijns inziens voor dat de steun voor Israel afbrokkelt.
Israel Radio reported that Cook was shot by accident after emerging from a caravan during the gunfight holding a mobile phone, which was mistaken by the soldier for a grenade.
UK demands that Israel investigate death of Cook
Great Britain is demanding that Israel fully investigate the death of the 50-year-old Cook, the first foreign UN official to die in over two years of fighting.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said that Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed sorrow over Hook's death, and promised that Israel would fully investigate the incident.
In the Jenin shootout, Hook was killed while trying to evacuate
staff from the small UN compound, made up of mobile trailers, in the Jenin refugee camp during a prolonged clash between IDF soldiers and Palestinian gunmen, a UN statement said.
At the time, IDF troops had surrounded a nearby hide-out of a wanted
Islamic Jihad leader, Abdullah Wahsh, demanding that he surrender. Palestinian gunmen fired at the troops, and an exchange of fire erupted, Palestinian witnesses said. Hundreds of Palestinian youngsters threw stones at the soldiers, who returned fire and called in helicopter gunships, the witnesses said.
"Several bullets hit the trailer and hit him," UN spokesman Sami Mshasha
said. Mshasha added that UN investigators were expected to arrive in Jenin later in the day, and that Hook's body would be taken to Jerusalem for an autopsy in the evening.
A UN statement said IDF soldiers refused immediate access for an
ambulance to take Hook to the hospital, and that it wasn't known whether the delay caused Hook's death. An army spokeswoman, Capt. Sharon Feingold, said Hook was evacuated as soon as was possible.
The Jenin Hospital director, Mohammed Abu Ghali, said the bullets retrieved from the victim's abdomen were of the kind generally used by IDF soldiers.
An army statement said it hadn't been determined who fired the fatal shots and that the incident was under investigation.
Hook was a senior manager in UNRWA, the UN agency helping Palestinian
refugees, and was in charge of a $27 million project to rebuild the Jenin camp, which Israel has targeted frequently in search of militants responsible for attacks against Israelis.
Two local Palestinian workers for UNRWA were killed previously, Mshasha said.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan was "greatly disturbed" that the army
prevented the ambulance from getting through immediately, spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in New York.
Elsewhere in the camp in different shooting incidents, an 11-year-old
Palestinian boy was killed and an Irish national wounded.
Wat mij vooral op valt in het verhaal is dat het IDF de ambulance tegenhield. Deze standaard praktijken van het IDF zorgen er mijns inziens voor dat de steun voor Israel afbrokkelt.