Five Gaza high school girls were reportedly slightly injured and hospitalized today when an Israeli driver, said to be a civilian, whose car was being mobbed and stoned panicked and fired his revolver into the crowd. The incident occurred on a road north of Gaza. Civil unrest erupted in Gaza Thursday and continued through the weekend with students, often incited by their teachers, taking the lead. The town of Gaza was quiet today after a march by high school students this morning on the military governor’s headquarters during which they stoned moving vehicles. Israeli police dispersed the crowd and arrested two teachers. In another part of town, students set up a stone barricade on the main Gaza Strip road which was removed by troops. Some schools were closed today and several hundred school girls lined the road to hurl epithets and rocks at passing Israeli vehicles; it was during such a melee that the shooting occurred.
The Gaza military governor met with his aides today to plan ways to quiet the unrest in this hitherto relatively peaceful town. The demonstrations started in the aftermath of a mining incident Thursday in which one member of Kibbutz Nahal Oz was killed and five were injured. A curfew was placed on Gaza’s eastern suburb where police followed tracks left by the mine-layers and arrested a number of residents for questioning. On Thursday morning, several hundred Arab women marched on the military governor’s house to protest the curfew and the arrests. They dispersed quietly after Israeli officials explained the reason for the curfew which was partially lifted later. Most of the arrested men were released. But the incident set off a wave of stoning by children. Several shops were closed Friday and a peaceful demonstration was held by local hospital employees. Yesterday morning, however, hundreds of adults led by school children, marched on the governor’s headquarters. The marchers became unruly, stoned vehicles and set up roadblocks. They were stopped about 200 yards from the headquarters but refused to disperse. Two half-tracks were sent into the crowd and Israeli soldiers fired several volleys into the air, dispersing the crowd.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
