Gaza students traumatized by fighting, says parish priest

Published: 2006-11-08

JERUSALEM (CNS) -- Students at a Catholic school in the Gaza Strip were left traumatized by days of fighting between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian gunmen, said the local parish priest. The school, run by the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, is about five miles from Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya, areas the Israelis targeted when they entered Gaza Nov. 1, said Father Manuel Musallam, a priest at Holy Family Parish. He said Nov. 6 that about 20 of the school's 650 students and two teachers who live in Beit Hanoun had been unable to leave their homes since the start of the military operation. "We can't help (our students.) All the teachers ... are in the same trauma (as the students)," said Father Musallam. Although the Israeli army withdrew from the area Nov. 7, the next day Israeli artillery shells killed 18 civilians in Beit Hanoun. Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz ordered the Gaza shelling to stop until an investigation is completed.

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