UN aid workers investigating Israeli Defence Force restrictions on Palestinian families near an illegal settlement in the Gaza Strip got a little extra something to make their workday stand out: seeing an Israeli soldier shoot a 15-year-old boy in the back.

Field workers visited the family of Yousef Bashir after they and others near the settlement of Kfar Darom were notified that the IDF was seizing large portions of their land. The IDF also forbade the Bashirs from accepting visitors without prior consent or using any outdoor areas aside from their northern garden.

Shortly after UN workers arrived, Israeli soldiers ordered them to leave. Yousef and his father walked the delegates back to their car.

"The boy was... waving goodbye, with his back to the Israeli observation post," recalled one UN worker. "Then a single shot was fired."

Normally, unprovoked attacks on Palestinians go unpunished, but with three UN witnesses ready to give their account, the IDF has suspended the shooter, pending investigation.

» Scott Saxon