JERUSALEM, Sept. 10 (Xinhua) -- The state of Israel will pay 430,000 shekels (108,000 U.S. dollars) in compensation to a Gaza family who lost both of its sons to army gunfire during the 2009 Gaza War.
The settlement was reached between the State Prosecution Office and the Shurrab family, the Ha'aretz daily reported Monday.
The army embarked on the three-week Operation Cast Lead between 2008 and 2009, in order to stop incessant rocket fire by militants into southern Israel.
On January 16, 2009 Kassab Shurrab, 27, and his brother, Ibrahim, 17, were returning home in their family vehicle together with their father Muhammad, during one of the army's periodic cease-fires, meant to allow non-combatant Palestinians to stock up on food and supplies.
According to the affidavit submitted by the father, despite the truce, soldiers at an outpost in eastern Khan Yunis opened fire on their jeep, causing them to hit a wall.
After the troops ordered the occupants to exit the vehicle, they shot the two at close range, according to the father. Ibrahim was badly wounded and Kassab was killed on the spot.
The family also charged that the soldiers did not allow an ambulance to enter the area and evacuate Ibrahim, who died from his wounds a day later.
According to the defense, the soldiers were convinced the jeep was a car bomb since it closed on them at high speed.
After receiving no response to an official complaint filed with the army over the deaths, the father turned to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, who filed a civil suit on his behalf in a Haifa court in August 2010.
The Tel Aviv District Attorney' s Office suggested a compromise with the group which agreed, and the sides negotiated the compensatory sum.
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