The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) opened heavy fire on two schools in Rafah, Al Umarya Boys A School and Al Umarya Girls B School, at approximately 9:30 am ton 23 September 2003.
As a result, one teacher and one pupil were wounded while three schoolgirls were sent to hospital from trauma.
According to the affidavit of a teacher who was in one of the schools at the time of the shelling, the firing started during the break period, which starts at 9:20 am every day.
All the pupils were outside the classrooms.
The bullets hit the school walls and some classrooms and pupils were very scared.
Some of teachers and pupils took refuge in the School’s Vice Master office which was also fired at shortly after.
Ismail Awad Mansour, a teacher aged 26, was wounded in his back, and Muhammad Haydar Al Buji, aged 13 was wounded in his right leg.
In addition, three girls (Hafsa Al Shair, aged 13; Najwa Al Khateeb, aged 14; and Anwar Al Hindi, aged 14) suffered cases of trauma in the adjacent Girls’ School.
The shelling also damaged a main electricity transmitter, causing a power cut in the Tal As-Sultan neighborhood.
Al Mezan condemns the targeting by the IOF of civilian objects and highlights the fact that the Center has documented 48 similar cases since the beginning of the Intifada on September 28, 2000.
These two targeted schools are run by the UNRWA and well identifiable with a UN flag on each edifice.
The Center also emphasizes that the shelling of schools, besides disturbing the educational process, causes severe psychological troubles for children in Rafah.
The international community is requested to intervene and protect civilian persons and objects in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and fulfill its legal and moral obligations under the international humanitarian law.
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