Deltanine

Iman al-Hams, 13, was shot by Israelis some 20 times on 5 October as she walked past an Israeli military outpost en route to school in Rafah, a refugee camp on Gaza's border with Egypt.

"Israeli soldiers stormed the area, the girl left the bag and tried to run," Omar Abu Khalifa, 25, a Palestinian witness who lives nearby, told Reuters on Monday.

"Bullets hit the [girl's] bag and then soldiers opened fire on the girl."

In fact a whole magazine was emptied into her at close range.

Follow up:

An Israeli military sources said: "The soldiers fired warning shots into the air. The figure dropped the bag and fled. The soldiers had no way of knowing it was a girl. The soldiers then fired at and hit the figure."

"The outcome was grave and regrettable."

After shooting the girl IDF soldiers say the company commander then approached the body and fired two bullets at her head before switching his gun to automatic. Doctors found more than 20 bullets in her body.

The soldiers were so disgusted by the slow pace of an army investigation that they approached the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth to demand the officer's dismissal.

One told the paper: "The company CO who sprayed the girl with bullets turned us all into vicious animals and besmirched us all.

"As far as we are concerned, it is either him or us. If he is not dismissed, we will not agree to serve under him.

"It is a disgrace that he is still in his position. We want him to be kicked out in a legal fashion."

The soldiers said the officer shot the girl even though he was told by members of his unit not to.

One said: "We spotted her at a distance of 70 metres. Shots were fired at her from the positions of the outpost, she ran away and was hit. I realised she was dead.

"The company CO approached her, shot two bullets into her, walked back towards the force, turned back to her, switched his weapon to automatic and emptied his entire magazine into her.

"He pumped her full of holes. We were in shock, we grabbed our heads. We couldn't believe what he was doing. Our hearts ached for her."

At first the army said the soldiers had suspected that the girl was carrying a bomb. Later it said the girl was being used by gunmen to lure them from their post.

Yesterday an army source said an investigation had begun, but it was "too early to speak of criminal charges".

The girl's family insist that she was going to school and carrying only her schoolbooks. "We demand the prosecution of Iman's killer, [but] we do not trust the Israeli judicial system," her elder brother, Ehab, said.