Palestinian 11-year-old killed in Gaza Strip
An 11-year-old Palestinian boy has been shot and killed and two other Palestinian children wounded in the Gaza Strip.
The shootings took place in an area where Palestinian militants and Israeli soldiers had been exchanging fire.
Israeli and Palestinian security officials had earlier failed to agree on a timetable to implement the ceasefire recommendations of a US-led commission.
Palestinian eyewitnesses say the children were shot by Israeli soldiers from a guard tower some 350 yards (300 metres) from where they had been playing.
The Israeli army spokesman had no immediate comment on the boy's death.
But he said Palestinian militants had been shooting bullets and throwing hand grenades and firebombs towards the military post throughout the day from inside the Raffah refugee camp, prompting the army to return fire.
The dead boy was identified as Khalil Ibrahim Al-Mugrabi by hospital officials in the Gazan town of Raffah which borders Egypt.
Doctors say he was shot in the head and that a ten-year-old boy was seriously wounded from a bullet wound to the stomach. A third boy, aged 12, was injured moderately.
Mohammed Abu-Shikadem, 29, who was nearby when the shootings took place, said that a group of some 30 children were playing near the refugee camp when he heard a burst of machine gun fire from the direction of the Israeli guard tower.
Previously, the area had been quiet, he said.
