In a report that deals exclusively with the killing of children, "the most grave and irreversible of the many abuses to which Palestinian and Israeli children have been subjected in the past two years", Amnesty International says since the start of second intifada, more than 250 Palestinian children and 72 Israeli children have been killed.

Amnesty International calls on the Israeli and Palestinian authorities to promptly take concrete and effective steps to prevent the killing of children, to ensure that thorough, impartial and public investigations are carried out into each case of killings of children, and that those responsible are brought to justice.

"Increasingly, children are bearing the brunt of the conflict, as both the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) and the Palestinian armed groups show an utter disregard for the lives of children and other civilians’, AI said in a recent report, a cipy was sent to Iran Press Service in Paris.

According to the report, most Palestinian children have been killed by the IDF's "excessive and disproportionate use of lethal force" against demonstrators and stone-throwers and their reckless shooting, shelling and aerial bombardments of residential areas. Some were killed as bystanders during Israel’s extra judicial execution of Palestinian activists or when their homes were demolished, and others died because they were denied access to medical care by the IDF. Armed Israeli settlers killed others.

Israeli children have been killed in "direct and indiscriminate attacks", including suicide bombings, and shootings by Palestinian armed groups and individuals both inside Israel and in Israeli settlements in the Occupied Territories or on roads leading to these settlements, Amnesty said.

No judicial investigation is known to have been carried out into any of the killings of children by members of the IDF in the Occupied Territories, even in cases where Israeli government officials have stated publicly that investigations would be carried out, and none of the IDF members responsible for these crimes are known to have been brought to justice. The Israeli authorities' assertions that in a situation of armed conflict investigations into killings of civilians are not necessary stand in stark contradiction with Israel's obligations according to the international human rights treaties it has ratified.

The Palestinian Authority (PA) for its part has failed to take the necessary measures to prevent attacks on Israeli civilians by Palestinian armed groups and to bring to justice those responsible for the killings of Israeli children and other civilians.

The organisation reiterates its call on the Palestinian armed groups to immediately stop targeting children and other civilians, and renews its calls on the international community to take concrete action with a view to sending international monitors to Israel and the Occupied Territories and to work resolutely to persuade the Israeli government to accept the presence of international observers.

Amnesty International believes that, had such observers been sent to the area when it and other organizations first called for them in October 2000, their presence might have saved the lives of Israeli and Palestinian children and other civilians. ENDS CHILDREN UNDER FIRE 71002

Editor’s note. This report summarizes a 30-page document published by Amnesty International entitled: ISRAEL AND THE OCCUPIED TERRITORIES AND THE PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY: Killing the future: Children in the line of fire