18:18 16/03/2003 Last update - 18:19 16/03/2003
American woman peace activist killed by IDF
bulldozer in Gaza
By Arnon Regular, Haaretz Correspondent, and Agencies
An American woman peace protester was killed Sunday by an IDF bulldozer, which ran her over during the demolition of a house in the southern Gaza Strip.
Rachel Corey, 23, was killed when she ran in front of the bulldozer to try to prevent it from destroying a house, doctors in Gaza said.
"Corey was killed in the al-Salam neighbourhood when an
Israeli bulldozer covered her with sand as she stood in front of a bulldozer," said Dr Ali Musa, a doctor from the al-Najar hospital in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah.
He said she died from skull and chest fractures.
The IDF said it was checking the report.
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The Associated Press
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (March 16, 7:17 a.m. AST) - An American woman in Gaza to protest against Israeli operations was killed Sunday when she was run over by an Israeli bulldozer, witnesses and hospital officials said.
Witnesses said Rachel Corrie from Olympia, Washington, was trying to stop the bulldozer from tearing down a building in the Rafah refugee camp, witnesses said, when she was buried. She was taken to Najar hospital in Rafah, where she died, said Dr. Ali Moussa, a hospital administrator.
Groups of international protesters have gathered in several locations in the West Bank and Gaza during two years of Palestinian violence, setting themselves up as "human shields" to try to stop Israeli operations there.
Corrie, 23, was the first member of the protesters, called "International Solidarity Groups," to be killed in the conflict.
Greg Schnabel, 28, from Chicago, a member of the Missouri-based group, said there were eight protesters at the site, four from the United States and four from Great Britain. "We stay with families whose house is to be demolished," he told the Associated Press by telephone from Rafah after the incident.
Smith said the protesters were in the house of Dr. Samir Masri. "Rachel was alone in front of the house as we were trying to get them to stop," he said. "She waved for bulldozer to stop and waved. She fell down and the bulldozer kept going. We yelled 'stop, stop,' and the bulldozer didn't stop at all. It had completely run over her and then it reversed and ran back over her," he said.
The Israeli military had no immediate comment.
Israel sends tanks and bulldozers into the area almost every day, destroying buildings near the Gaza-Egypt border. According to interim peace accords, Israel controls the border area. There are almost daily clashes between Palestinian gunmen and Israeli soldiers in the area.
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