RAFAH, Gaza Strip, 2 February 2005 — Pupils at a school in southern Gaza were in mourning yesterday over the death of a classmate whose killing threatens to unravel a shaky truce by Palestinian armed factions.

As militants unleashed volleys of mortar shells at Israeli settlements for a second day in response to the fatal shooting, the friends of 10-year-old Nuran Dib were still trying to come to terms with their grief.

Israel has vehemently denied that its troops were responsible for the shooting as the youngster lined up for morning assembly in the courtyard of the United Nations-run elementary school in Rafah at around noon on Monday.

However Palestinian militants have seized on the shooting as proof of what they regard as continuing Israeli “aggression” and fired a series of mortar shells which have so far caused some damage to buildings but no injuries.

Siham Al-Ghof, head teacher of the school, recalled how she was surveying the ranks of the pupils when the tragedy happened.

“I was surprised to see her fall to the ground as I had not heard any sound of gunfire which means that the shooting must have been from far away,” she said.

“We immediately took her to the hospital but she was already dead,” said the teacher, still visibly in shock.

The school is located around half a mile (800 meters) from an Israeli military post on the border between southern Gaza into Egypt, one of the major flashpoints in the strife-torn territory.

Teachers and pupils have grown accustomed to the sound of shooting but the felling of Nuran was especially shocking as it came during a period of calm in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Another student, seven-year Aisha Al-Khatib, was also hit in the hand by the gunfire.

The bullets smashed second-floor classroom windows and pierced a hole in the satchel of another youngster who was standing next to little Nuran.

Tearful pupils said prayers Tuesday for their fallen classmate, as they glimpsed the bloody frock which Nuran had been wearing the day before.

The youngster’s parents also struggled to take in what had happened, recalling how they had often feared for her safety at school.

“I have always been worried that something like this would happen to her. The school is very exposed and is on the doorstep of the shooting by the Israelis,” said Nuran’s father Iyad.

His wife Ilham was unable to contain her grief over the loss of her daughter at such a tender age.

“She is gone, she is gone. God has her soul,” she wept.

Nuran was the fifth pupil to have been shot in a school in Gaza run by the United Nations refugee agency (UNRWA) in the course of the intifada.

Two other girls were killed in Rafah and the nearby town of Khan Yunis last year.

While the Israelis have denied their responsibility, UNRWA commissioner-general Peter Hansen has said the shooting was a cruel reminder “of the continuing danger to which innocent children are exposed by the realities of the occupation and the irresponsible use of arms.”

Former Palestinian Security Minister Mohammed Dahlan was also unconvinced by the Israeli denial, telling reporters yesterday that “Israel cannot say that the martyrdom of this little girl was a coincidence”.