It was official.
The director of ambulance and emergency services in Gaza, Muawiya Hassanein, reported that a 14 year old Gaza boy, Muhammad Zen Ismail Al-Fammawi, was shot dead by Israeli forces near the Yassir Arafat International Airport last Tuesday. The International Red Cross apparently had coordinated with Israel forces to collect the body. Alas, the body was not found.
But oops! No body was not found. Still, the story persisted. Another martyr for "Land Day," the 34th anniversary of a protest against an Israeli expropriation of land in which six Arabs were killed.
Then, yesterday, the boy shows up. His father had spent four days looking for his son or his son's body.
"He was amazed," reported the New York Times, "at the boy's return on Friday, when it was revealed that Muhammed, along with 16 other teenagers, had sneaked into smuggler tunnels to try to get into Egypt and was then picked up by Egyptian security forces."