Death of Khalil al-Mughrabi

Who is Death of Khalil al-Mughrabi?

Khalil al-Mughrabi, a Palestinian boy aged 11, was killed on 7 July 2001, by shots fired from an Israel Defense Forces tank while Khalil was resting with friends after a game of soccer in Rafah. Two of his companions, aged 10 and 12, were also seriously wounded. This incident took place during the Second Intifada.

The Israeli Army said immediately that their forces had been attacked and that they had returned fire. Palestinian sources and a friend of Khalil said they were part of group throwing stones at Israeli troops when al-Mugrahbi was killed. A later investigation by the chief military prosecutor found that the clashes that had involved Palestinians throwing stones and grenades at Israeli soldiers had broken up at noon, and that al-Mughrabi was killed at 7 P.M, seven hours after the clashes. The investigation found that, later in the evening, Palestinian adults and children had attempted to seal a road with debris and barbed wire, drawing warning shots from an Israeli tank, with one shot evidently killing al-Mughrabi, who had been playing football in a field a half mile away.

Despite having determined that the circumstances "must dictate a military police investigation", the military prosecutor cleared the soldiers of wrongdoing on the grounds of the violence that had taken place earlier in the day. An independent investigation by the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem said that the Israeli army's investigation of the incident amounted to a whitewash, calling the investigation "shallow and superficial" and that the actions by the Judge Advocate General "raises a serious concern that lying is considered legitimate practice in the office of the Judge Advocate General." Human Rights Watch, commenting on the army's failure to investigate the al-Mughrabi case further, noted that in international law, the governing principle where there is credible or prima facie evidence of a possible violation of international humanitarian law is that an investigation is required.