Haaretz

2 February 2003

IDF troops fired outlawed tank shells at children playing soccer

in the Jabalya refugee camp in the Gaza Strip over the weekend,

Israel Radio quoted Palestinians sources as saying Sunday.

Nine children were reported to have been hurt - three moderately

to seriously and six lightly - by the Flachette shells, which

scatter thousands of pieces of metal after being fired and whose

use is curtailed under international treaties.

The IDF said the shells were fired Friday night at three

Palestinians who were apparently trying to launch Kassam rockets

and mortar shells east of the camp. According to the

Palestinians, the children were playing soccer and had brought

with them moveable goalposts that could have been mistaken for

rocket launchers.

The Flachette shell were originally used in southern Lebanon

during Israel's occupation. They were seen as an efficient means

of battle that allowed a wide area to be covered by IDF fire

against Hezbollah units that moved around in open areas outside

the villages.

In the Gaza Strip, however, the situation is more complicated,

and conventional arms can be fired more accurately than the

Flachette shells.

Controversy in Israel over the use of Flachette shells began

after three Palestinian women were mistakenly killed in June 2001

when a Flachette shell was fired on the Gaza encampment in which

the women lived.

In another incident, eight Palestinians were killed and more than

50 wounded in October 2002 by Flachette shells in the Gaza

refugee camp of Rafah refugee camp