Israel inquiry into teen killing

Uday Tantawi was buried on Friday, the day of his killing

The Israeli army has opened an inquiry into the recent fatal shooting by a soldier of a 13-year-old Palestinian boy, near the West Bank town of Nablus.

Palestinian witnesses said the boy, Uday Tantawi, had been part of a group throwing stones.

Israel said a patrol encountered rioting, and a soldier opened fire after he thought he saw a gunman.

But an initial Israeli army inquiry found that Tantawi was not armed, and a commander was suspended from duty.

"This was a grave incident in which an innocent 13-year-old youth was killed," Maj Gen Yair Naveh, the head of the army's Central Command, said in a statement.

"This does not comply with the morals and standards that the Israeli Defense Force inculcates to its soldiers."

About 3,200 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli security forces in the West Bank and Gaza between September 2000 and September 2005, including 657 aged under 18, according to Btselem, a leading Israeli human rights group.

There are no reliable figures showing what proportion of these were civilians or armed militants.

Over the same time period, Btselem says an estimated 444 Israeli civilians and 84 soldiers have been killed in Israel by Palestinian militants.

A further 223 settlers and 221 Israeli soldiers have been killed by Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.