Gazans Pray Outside, Defying Warnings by Hamas

Steven Erlanger, The New York Times, 01/09/07. Also on Friday, the Israeli military said that three children killed on Wednesday in northern Gaza by Israeli fire were not retrieving a rocket launcher, as first announced, but were simply playing tag nearby. The three young cousins — Mahmoud Ghazal, 10; Sara Ghazal, 10; and Yehiya Ghazal, 12 — became targets when they were seen near the empty launcher and touching it, the army said in a statement. It said that “at the very last second it was apparent that they were children, but it was impossible to stop the explosion.” The statement did not say whether they had been shot from the air or the ground. The army expressed regret, after first accusing Palestinian militants of using the children to retrieve the empty launchers. On Friday, it blamed the militants for having fired rockets from civilian areas. , as first announced, but were simply playing tag nearby. The three young cousins — Mahmoud Ghazal, 10; Sara Ghazal, 10; and Yehiya Ghazal, 12 — became targets when they were seen near the empty launcher and touching it, the army said in a statement. It said that “at the very last second it was apparent that they were children, but it was impossible to stop the explosion.” The statement did not say whether they had been shot from the air or the ground.

The army expressed regret, after first accusing Palestinian militants of using the children to retrieve the empty launchers. On Friday, it blamed the militants for having fired rockets from civilian areas.

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