Palestinians Furious at Israeli Killing of Schoolgirl

Reacting to Israel’s killing of a Palestinian girl at a UN-run school in Gaza, resistance factions threatened to resume attacks against Israel unless occupation forces immediately stopped their “aggressions against the Palestinian people”.
The threat came just hours after a ten-year old Palestinian girl was shot dead by the Israeli forces at a United Nations-run school in the southern Gaza town of Rafah.


“Eight resistance groups will resume their attacks against Israel if the Israeli aggression does not stop,” a spokesman for the Islamic resistance group Hamas said Monday, January 31.


The statement, signed by eight armed factions, was issued in response to the shooting to death of Nuran Dib by the occupation forces while she was walking inside her school in the Brazil neighborhood of the Rafah refugee camp.


The Palestinian girl was struck in the head, one witness was quoted by the BBC News Online as saying.


“She suddenly screamed and fell to the ground, bleeding. The girls started to run everywhere.”


The dead girl’s mother told journalists: “We heard talk about a ceasefire. But it seems there is nothing like that on the ground,” the BBC News Online said.


“My daughter was lovely. Today she went to school earlier than usual. She said she wanted to play with her schoolmates before class.”


Another girl was wounded in the hand.


Nuran”s death is the second such fatality in the area in two days.


A 65-year-old Palestinian man was killed by the Israeli occupation forces as he was walking near an army post Sunday, January 30.


Violating Ceasefire


 
The Palestinian factions warned they could not just sit and watch Israeli continuous “aggressions”.


 
In their statement, a copy of which was obtained by IslamOnline.net, the resistance factions accused the Israeli government of violating a fragile ceasefire negotiated by the Palestinian leader.


“We, the armed wings of the resistance factions, declare that we are running out of patience. The enemy (Israel) is meeting our truce with continuous aggression. We cannot allow the Zionist enemy to continue its aggression and daily violations without an answer,” the statement read.


Despite the 11-day quiet period observed by the resistance factions, Israel had shot dead 22 Palestinians, half of them were children, and injured another 47 across the occupied territories, the statement added, accusing the Israeli army of carrying out 33 incursions and detaining 196 people.


Israel had also continued construction of its controversial West Bank separation barrier, and blocked roads and checkpoints, it added.


“Any hudna (ceasefire) cannot be successful without a clear answer from the enemy to all our conditions, which include an end to the aggressions and the release of all prisoners.”


“We will answer all its aggressions,” the statement read.


The statement was signed by the Ezz Edeen Al-Qassam Brigades (the armed wing of Hamas), Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades (affiliated to Fatah), Abu Al-Reesh Brigades (Fatah), Fatah Falcons (Fatah), Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades (the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine — PFLP), National Resistance Brigades (Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine –DFLP), Saladin Brigades (Popular Resistance Committees), and Ahmed Jibriel Brigades (PFLP-General Command).


Saraya Al-Quds, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad, did not sign the statement.


However, Abu Islam, a Jihad leader, told IOL that the movement supports the stance of the Palestinian factions.


Following a series of marathon talks with leaders of major resistance factions in Gaza, Palestinian President Mahmood Abbas (Abu Mazen) told the Palestinian television that an agreement concerning a ceasefire with Israel was “very soon.”


Palestinian security forces started deploying Friday, January 21, across northern Gaza in a bid to prevent the Palestinian resistance factions from launching mortar attacks against Israel.