Occupied Jerusalem - Palestinian Authority health minister Kamal Sharafi reported on Monday that the number of Palestinian children murdered by the Israeli occupation army since the outbreak of the intifada 33 months ago reached 571.

The Palestinian daily newspaper, al Ayyam, quoted Sharafi on Monday as saying that most of the victims were killed as a result of indiscriminate Israeli artillery and aerial bombardment of Palestinian population centers.

The Palestinian official pointed out that during the past month alone, the Israeli army killed 21 Palestinian children, 12 in the Gaza Strip and 9 in the West Bank.

He added that since the beginning of the year 2003, the Israeli occupation army has killed 107 children, 60 in the Gaza Strip, and 47 in the West Bank.

The minister stressed that the Israeli army and paramilitary Jewish terrorists “knowingly and deliberately kill Palestinian children.”

Normally, the Israeli regime refuses to carry out genuine investigations into the killings.