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Israeli Military Threatens Schoolchildren in Gaza
KHAN YOUNIS, April 30
(IslamOnline) – Students at ‘Eid Agha’ school in the Gaza Strip
can see Israeli occupation army soldiers take up positions and arms in
the area adjacent to their school.
Seven years ago, when
their school was first opened, those Palestinian youths never expected
it to border on two colonial settlements with electric barbwires.
Both pupils and teachers
find themselves on the alert all day long in fear of any sudden
bombardment. Since the start of the second Palestinian intifada
against Israeli occupation, the school has frequently come under fire
from forces stationed to the west, resulting in severe damage to
windows and doors.
Up to twenty-five
schools in Khan Younis have come under heavy Israeli bombardment,
killing 23 pupils and wounding dozens others, 45 of whom suffer
permanent infirmity.
“Israeli soldiers
deliberately shoot and fire sound bombs nearby to force us to abandon
the school which stands as an obstacle in the way of their growing
colonial settlements, especially the Netzer Hazzani settlement which
has eaten up hundreds of Palestinian feet,” said Shaymaa Al-Agha, a
third preparatory grade school-girl.
Sojood el-Astal, also a
third year preparatory school-girl, said they will never be induced to
go.
“We will never quit
school no matter what they do,” said Sojood. “It is our future,
and there’s not other nearby school we can go to instead.”
“Afraid though we may
be of occupation soldiers and tanks encircling our school, but we will
never leave,” she added. “We have no other choice but to stay.”
Parents in the region
are afraid for the lives of their children, especially that Israeli
forces kill children, adults and old people indiscriminately. Five
children from El-Astal family were killed on their way to school, in
an Israeli-planted-landmine explosion.
Everyday, mothers send
their children to school not knowing whether they’ll come back on
foot or their friends’ shoulders.
“I think a million
times every morning before sending my daughter to school,” said
Mohammad El-Astal. “I’m always afraid for her life. Israeli
soldiers shoot for no reason. But I leave it all in the hands of
God”
“For nineteen months -
the duration of our intifada – Israeli aggressions have continued,
but I still can’t stop my children from going to school. It’s
their future at stake here, and I can’t gamble with that.”
Othman Abou Gahgouh, the
school headmaster, described the situation as “intolerable,”
saying the schoolchildren are always petrified by tank movements,
shootings and shelling which usually results in the destruction of
doors, windows and boards.
“This reflects
negatively on the children,” he said, “ a number of whom have
started developing cases of involuntary urination, anxiety and lack of
concentration – cases we never seen before. The children, moreover,
have been denied the practice of all sorts of activities like school
radio, sports and gardening – activities characteristic of our
school. The door facing the Israeli military post is always closed too
out of fear for the children’s lives.”
Abou Gahgouh emphasized
that the Israeli occupation policies have a very negative effect on
the children’s learning process, noting that a disturbed child’s
understanding declines noticeably.
“On a single school
day, Israeli tanks move around the school dozens of times, shaking the
whole school with its desks, scaring the children,” he added.
Abou Gahgouh said the
Ministry of Education and Pedagogy in Khan Younis have given teachers
lessons on first aid and crisis management. Teachers calm the children
down and give them daily directives before starting their lessons,
including keeping away from strange objects they see on their way to
and from school.
The ministry maintains contact with the school to coordinate means of
dealing with the children during the current crisis, he said, adding
that the ministry gave the headmaster full jurisdiction to act.
According to the media department of the Palestinian Ministry of
Education, 170 school children have been killed since the start of the
intifada, and hundreds have been wounded.
The death toll is expected to rise after recovering the bodies of the
Jenin refugee camp massacre in which scores of schoolchildren went
missing.
The ministry confirmed that the Israeli
occupation forces have shelled 161 Palestinian schools, attempted to
storm 52 and convert 4 others into military trenches. 
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