His bright clothing identified him as a peace activist, but that did not help

RAFAH, Gaza Strip, April 13 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – The parents of a British student shot in the head by Israeli troops accused the Israeli government of "deliberate recklessness".

Tom Hurndall, 21, may be brain damaged after being shot by a sniper, was rendered clinically dead in Bir Sheva hospital

On Saturday, April 12, his father, Anthony Hurndall, 52, said: "The Israeli government and the Israeli military will have something to answer. There will be questions. I want to know what happened. I want it to be brought to light," reported British daily The Independent.

Speaking with his wife Jocelyn at home in north London, before leaving for Israel, Hurndall, a lawyer, referred to suspicions that the Israeli army has begun targeting "human shields".

"I think the army is deliberately careless if not deliberately reckless as to who they target," he said.

Tom Hurndall is the third Western activist shield to be seriously hurt in the last month. Rachel Corrie, from the U.S., was killed by a bulldozer she was trying to prevent from moving last month. Brian Avery, 24, an American, was shot in the face in the West Bank, in Jenin, last week.

Tom's parents say he was walking down a street in Rafah, in Gaza, with other peace activists when they heard gunfire and locals ran for cover.

Tom saw three children exposed on a mound and went to collect them. He carried one to safety and was returning for another when he was shot, his mother said. His bright clothing identified him as a peace activist, she added. His father said: "In that situation, to be shot seems extraordinary."

Tom Wallace, of the International Solidarity Movement, said local children had come to watch the activists' protest, as they often did. He said shots were being fired over the protesters' heads from one of two Israeli watchtowers nearby. "The activists and all the women and kids decided to move away," he said. "They were moving very slowly, and he was standing in front of the women and kids to protect them while they were moving.

"They were trying to evacuate the area and that is when he was shot." Wallace said a high-caliber bullet hit Hurndall, suggesting it had been fired by a nearby sniper. "The only way that the truth about this incident will be established is if the British Government demands and carries out a full investigation."

Tom's mother said the first-year photography student in Manchester was "first and foremost a humanitarian". "He was not primarily political. He just wanted to help people.

"He had only been a member of the peace group for five days ... I can't think of anyone more suited to be a peace campaigner."

Tom had initially traveled to Baghdad before the war in Iraq to act as a human shield. Unhappy with the Iraqi government's treatment of peace activists, he left for Jordan, a move that left his parents feeling relieved. "I didn't know he had gone into Gaza, into the camps," his father said. "I was relieved when I heard he had left Iraq," he said.

The family only found out about the shooting when his elder sister received a phone call from a tabloid newspaper on Friday. "We had a family weep this morning," said Tom's mother, head of learning support at a primary school.

Tom was trying to save Palestinian children

Tom's girlfriend, Michelle, who is also a member of ISM, was said to be at his bedside.

The Foreign Office in London said consulate officials in Britain and Jerusalem were ready to assist Tom's family.

Hurndall's fellow activists were yesterday deliberating whether to stay on in Rafah – some believe they are being deliberately targeted by the Israeli army.

Raphael Cohen, from London, who was standing a few feet from Hurndall when he was shot, said he and other activists had stayed on in Rafah despite seeing their colleague shot in the head.

The ISM has been denounced by the Israeli authorities as one-sided. The activists are pro-Palestinian but they are unarmed.

"The Israelis are clearly taking advantage of the international attention on Iraq to target us," Cohen said. "We have a good presence in Rafah and I think that has prevented the Israelis doing some of what they want here."

“We Are Now Israeli Targets”

Shell-shocked after the fellow peace activist was rendered clinically dead by an Israeli sniper Friday, Nick and Tom still feel their work as human shields protecting Palestinians from army fire and bulldozers in the southern Gaza town of Rafah has been worth it.

However, the two teenagers are now considering going home after Friday's shooting which has raised fears that international volunteers are rapidly becoming a target for the Israeli army, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"Back home, I believed when a child was shot, something must have happened, but I've discovered here that it can actually happen just like that, without a reason," says 18-year-old Tom Diale from Britain.

Tom arrived in the Palestinian territories five months ago to join ISM, a group of some 40 pro-Palestinian activists who engage in non-violent direct action to protect civilians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

He was among the first ISM activists to set foot in Rafah, a densely populated Palestinian area at the southern tip of Gaza which has been the scene of frequent Israeli raids over the past 30 months.

"I came here because I was academically interested in the conflict. I meant to stay for three weeks but stayed on, first moving around the West Bank," says the young man who hopes to major in political science.

But after he witnessed his friend Rachel Corrie being crushed to death by an Israeli bulldozer last month and fellow Briton Thomas Hurndall being shot and rendered clinically dead by an Israeli sniper in Rafah refugee camp Friday, Tom is not sure whether he will stay.

And in any event, given the increase in foreign casualties, the ISM will have to reconsider the way it operates in the area, he says.

"I imagine we'll have to review the ways we operate at the border area and heavily restrict our work there. Maybe we should opt for less confrontational actions as human shields," reflects Tom who, as a veteran ISM worker in Rafah, also instructs new recruits.

"In the past, we would try to stop military operations, now maybe we'll go to a location beforehand so there won't be any Israeli action," he muses, still visibly unsettled by Friday's shooting of his friend and colleague.

Tom and other ISM activists who witnessed the incident said Hurndall was trying to pull two children out of danger when shots were fired from an army watchtower some 100 meters away.

"I think the army is deliberately careless if not deliberately reckless as to who they target," Tom’s dad

"Thomas was wearing a bright orange reflective jacket, like we all do and like Rachel had been wearing too. There is no way the army did not see them," he says.

Hit squarely in the head by the bullet, Hurndall was critically wounded and shortly after arriving at hospital, doctors pronounced him clinically dead.

The army had no comment but said it would look into the event. It is still investigating the cause of Rachel Corrie's death a month earlier.

Nick, a 19-year-old Scot, wanted to "do something and not just participate in anti-war demonstrations".

"I wanted to see what was going on with my own eyes and help Palestinians fight for their legitimate rights," he says, his eyes reddened by tears shed over Hurndall's tragic injury.