Amidst the mayhem, the crimes continue

This is a brief post whose purpose is to serve as a memorial for a little girl who has received scarce if any mention in the preoccupied media in recent days. Her name was Aya al-Astal. Aya was 13 years old. Aya was carrying a basket, and got lost on her back back home to the Qarara area of south-central Gaza on Thursday, not far from the border fence with Israel. Israeli occupation forces shot her four times with live ammuniation, two rounds at least hitting her in the neck on Thursday, after suspecting she was a dangerous terrorist (their defense: "she got close to the fence"). But the media was too busy covering the "political earthquake that shook the region." Four bullets. To the neck. This from arguably the most sophisticated army in the world. Apparently, the soldiers mistook her basket for a bomb. Binoculars anyone? Medics found her body, riddled with bullets, hours after she had been murdered. May you rest in peace littl Aya. May you rest in peace.

Chris Mcgreal, the Guardian's ever-reliable correspondent here, covered Aya's story here in horrific detail on January 30, 2006:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1697745,00.html