Israel fires tear gas at students on first day of school year

Israeli forces fired 15 tear gas grenades and canisters, as well as five stun grenades, at children as they waited to go to school yesterday morning in Hebron.

A Red Crescent ambulance was called as two teachers and two children, aged 10 and 12 years old, required medical treatment for excessive tear gas inhalation.

Children in the West Bank have begun their new school year, while children in Gaza have so far been unable to return.

Ally Cohen, a British International Solidarity Movement (ISM) volunteer, who was present at the checkpoint said: “We saw a few teenagers run towards the checkpoint and throw stones; they then ran away very quickly. The soldiers then threw two stun grenades very close to us.”

“We tried to comfort the two young boys when they [the stun grenades] exploded, but what could we say? They were both terrified.”

“The smoke was thick and I began choking, it felt like I couldn’t breathe. I can’t imagine what this sensation would have been like for a child, and there were so many present. From there the situation just seemed to get worse, with so much tear gas in the air, children were unable to reach their schools.”

Between May and June, the last month of the school year, ISM documented 11 tear gas grenades and 13 stun grenades used against schoolchildren in Hebron, the children affected were as young as four years old.