The Israeli government, manifestly, has issued its own version of this.
Indelible image of Palestinian fireman killed by shrapnel, Justin Huggler
The Independent, 07 March 2003
The image was indelible. The Palestinian fireman who a moment before had stood fearlessly in the open as the gunfire echoed, aiming a hose at a building in flames, crumpling to the ground as shrapnel burst all around him. That was the unforgettable scene of yesterday’s Israeli incursion into the Gaza Strip, the death of Naji Abu Jalili as he tried to douse a burning building.
Eleven Palestinians died in the incursion yesterday morning, eight when the shrapnel flew across Jerusalem Street in Jabalya and in the moments after, as repeated bursts of machine-gun fire were fired at the crowds. Among them was at least one child, Thaer Rihan, 14. More than 100 people were wounded, doctors said.
Most witnesses told the same story: that the first burst of shrapnel that cut down the fireman, Mr Abu Jalili, came from an Israeli tank. They said it fired a shell packed with flechettes, arrow-shaped pieces of metal designed to inflict mass casualties, straight at the fireman, and that the flechettes and shrapnel ripped through a crowd watching from an alley opposite. And that the tank fired its machine-gun on crowds of people trying to rescue the wounded.
That was what Kemal al-Madhun, the fireman who was standing behind Mr Abu Jalili as he fell, described. “They targeted us,” he said, his voice straining under the pain from his back, which was hit by shrapnel in several places. “We were about to put the fire out when they shot at us.”
The Israeli army said the tank had fired at a Palestinian militant aiming a rocket-propelled grenade at it, and that the resulting explosion had killed Mr Abu Jalili and others.
There were also Israeli claims that the Palestinian casualties were caused by a booby trap in the furniture store intended to kill Israeli soldiers. The Israelis said every care had been taken to avoid civilian casualties.
However, from the television footage it was clear that the shrapnel which killed the fireman did not come from the furniture store, but from an entirely different direction. Nor was there evidence of a large blast at the furniture store: the large iron doors were still intact and hanging from the hinges.
What the television footage appeared to show was that the tank had fired in the direction of the fireman and the civilians near him. Slowed down, you could see how the shrapnel flew in one direction, over, around, through the fireman, bursting as it hit the road.
Then the machine-gun fire began. All the fire came from the same end of the street as the first burst of shrapnel, and Palestinians fled from it – which meant it was almost certainly Israeli fire. The gun opened up again and again. When it had been silent for a while and the civilians crept towards the fire, it opened up again, sending them running in panic.
