'The soldier looked straight at me and fired'

The Irishwoman who was shot and wounded in the West Bank refugee camp of Jenin this morning has told ireland.comshe was targeted by an Israeli tank soldier as she was attempting to bring three Palestinian children to safety.

Speaking from the camp, where she is being treated for a leg wound, peace activist Ms Caoimhe Butterly (23) said she was "fine, just feeling very sore".

She said the Israeli army had reinvaded the camp at 5 a.m. The army said it was searching for members of Islamic Jihad wanted in connection with recent suicide bomb attacks in Israel.

Ms Butterly was told groups of men with no connection with militant groups were being dragged from their beds, stripped, blindfolded and beaten.

Worried for their safety she went to the main area of the camp which had been blockaded by the army. "I went down with one other UN official. When we got there we were arrested and held for more than two hours and interrogated.

"After I was released I returned to the main part of the camp where the Israeli army had set up a blockade. There were heavy clashes between the army and kids," Ms Butterly said.

"When I arrived I was told that one kid, nine years old who was a friend of mine, had been killed and two others wounded; one of them, I was told, was severely brain-damaged in the attack.

"At that stage a large number of kids had gathered. I tried to negotiate with the soldiers to get them tostop shooting while standing in front of the kids. We were concerned about the safety of the children. The army was firing live rounds. One solider lifted the hatch of his tank, looked straight at us and opened fire.

"Most of them managed to get away. There were about three still in the road. I tried physically to pick them up to bring them into an alleyway.

"I was trying to drag these three kids into the shelter of an alley. But when I looked up, the soldier looked straight at me and fired. The next thing I remember was I was being picked up and brought to the hospital," she said.

She said she had spoken to the UN official who was killed this morning an hour before he was shot but could not say what had happened as she had been receiving medical attention at the time.

Ms Butterly has spent time in the Palestinian territories since Israel briefly reoccuppied the area earlier this year. She worked with other foreigners to provide protection to Palestinians as an international presence.

It is the second time she has been injured following Israeli incursions into the camp this year. In August she was lightly injured in the leg by shrapnel from Israeli machineguns.