JERUSALEM, Sept. 14 (UPI) -- The Israeli Army said an elderly Palestinian man and his grandson killed by artillery fire near the northern Gaza border were not terrorists.
The statement was made as a result of a military probe conducted by the army to investigate the incident Sunday evening in which a 91-year-old Palestinian man and his grandson and a third Palestinian were killed.
The incident occurred shortly after mortar shells and Qassam rockets were fired at southern Israel.
The investigation by the Gaza Division said the man and his grandson were not involved in terrorist activity and were mistakenly shot by Israeli soldiers. They stood next to a third Palestinian who aimed a rocket propelled grenade at soldiers, the army said.
The army said it is possible the third Palestinian killed in the incident found the RPG on the ground and picked it up, The Jerusalem Post said Tuesday.
"This is not the type of result that we would like from such incidents," an officer in the Gaza Division told the newspaper.
Shortly after the incident Sunday, Palestinian media reports said Ibrahim Abu Said, 91, and his teenage grandson Hussam Abu Asad were killed by artillery shells together with a third Palestinian identified as Ismail Abu Udah, 20.
At the time an Israeli army spokesman said the three attempted to fire a rocket propelled grenade at Israeli soldiers.
