Israeli troops kill girl in gun battle on Gaza border

Israeli troops shot dead an 11-year-old Palestinian girl yesterday during a gun battle in the Rafah refugee camp on the Gaza-Egyptian border. Nada Madi was the third young Palestinian killed in southern Gaza this week.

Her aunt, Mozeh Madi, told The Independent that Nada had done nothing to provoke the shot. The girl had just returned from school; she went to her room on the third floor and opened a window. A bullet, fired from an army post less than 100 metres away, hit her in the chest.

"We are seeing this tragedy every day, over and over again, and we can do nothing to stop it," her aunt said. Nada's father and grandmother, who had crossed into Egypt for medical treatment, were summoned home for the funeral.

The area, where the Israeli army plays a constant cat-and-mouse game with Palestinian arms smugglers, is one of almost daily clashes. The Israelis find and destroy tunnels; the Palestinians dig new ones in the sandy soil. Israel claimed that 10 grenades were thrown at its soldiers there on Wednesday alone.

Israeli military sources said yesterday's clash began when Palestinian fighters launched an anti-tank missile, grenades and automatic fire at one of their fortified points. The Israelis shot back and a battle ensued, during which the girl was hit. The army said it was investigating her death.

Earlier, Israeli soldiers demolished a rogue settler outpost in the West Bank city of Hebron. Shaul Mofaz, the Defence Minister, ordered its removal because it had been built without permission on land owned by Arabs. Police arrested seven protesters suspected of assaulting the troops and dragged away 200.

Militant settlers had erected four caravans on a lane where Palestinian gunmen killed 12 Israeli security personnel in an ambush last month. The route is used by Jewish worshippers walking between the Tomb of the Patriarchs, sacred to Jews and Arabs as the tomb of Abraham, and Kiryat Arba, a Jewish settlementabove the city.

In Tulkarem, troops demolished the home of Sirhan Sirhan, a Palestinian fighter accused of killing five Israelis, including a mother and two children, in a kibbutz six weeks ago. The army entered before dawn, arrested the man's father and tore down his house. Mr Sirhan is still at large.