The Israeli army has suspended two soldiers involved in the death of a Palestinian girl, believed to be 13-years old, near the West Bank town of Tulkarm.
Witnesses said the soldier opened fire when the girl was playing with a friend near the barrier Israel has built to separate the West Bank from Israel.
The girl was identified as Doaa Abd al-Qadr, and her friend was named as 12-year-old Rasha Shalbi.
Israeli army sources said troops opened fire when they noticed a suspicious figure approaching the fence, 100m away, late on Tuesday night.
Unprovoked
The commanding officer at the scene fired a shot into the air, and a soldier opened fire on the approaching figure.
Al-Kadr was hit in the hand by a bullet, leaving her seriously wounded. She died on the way to hospital in Tel Aviv.
Palestinian sources said the second girl was seriously wounded, but the Israeli army said she suffered only from shock.
Israeli human rights groups are demanding immediately that the Israeli army release their rules of engagement showing that Israeli soldiers are not allowed to shoot at civilians.
The mother of Doaa expressed her grief by questioning the Israeli army's intentions: 'Do you think my daughter is capable of destroying the wall? A little girl, to be killed and slaughtered by the wall.'
The army called the incident a very serious matter, adding that the soldier who fired the shots had not been authorised to do so.
Preliminary results from an investigation have revealed that the soldier opened fire of his own accord.
The Israeli army central command ordered the officer and the soldier who fired the shots to be suspended from all activities, and has launched an investigation.
Rights of the child
The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child guarantees the fundamental rights of all children. Israel signed and ratified this agreement in October 1991.
However, according to the Palestine Monitor, between September 2000 and July 2006, 783 Palestinian children under the age of 18 have been killed by the Israeli army and Israeli settlers.
The Palestine Monitor is a civil society group that sources information from Palestinian, US and European NGOs.
This figure is almost 22% of the total number of Palestinians killed in that time.
According to the Palestinian health ministry, 2,660 Palestinian children have been permanently disabled due to Israeli attacks in the same period.
Misuse of weapons
Unicef has said that 123 Palestinian children have been killed in 2006, which is more than double the 2005 figure. In Gaza alone, 103 children have been killed.
Dan Rohrmann, Unicef's special representative in the occupied Palestinian territory, said: 'This has been a tragic year for Palestinians living in Gaza and the West Bank.
'It's been one of the deadliest years that we have seen.'