An UNRWA school where Islamist fighters are stationed, and the cars in which five Fatah members perished on July 30, 2023. (Credit: Mohammad Yassine)
Three schools run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which were closed in July due to fighting between rival Palestinian factions in the Ain al-Hilweh camp near Saida (southern Lebanon), reopened this morning, reports our correspondent in the region.
The camp's complex of schools lies on the front line between the various factions and had been occupied by fighters of different persuasions. Four of them, the Bissan, Samoa, Naqoura and Safed schools, are still occupied.
Classes were held this morning for some 1,700 pupils in three of the eight schools managed by the agency, all located in the same complex in the camp. The schools that have reopened are those in Fallujah, Hattine and Qobieh, Abed al-Saadi, Director of Services at Unrwa, told our publication.
The Marj Ben Amer school, whose pupils currently attend classes outside the camp, will also reopen on Thursday, Feb. 1. Pupils enrolled in the four schools where Palestinian factions are still stationed will continue their studies in schools outside the camp.
Last summer, deadly clashes broke out between Islamist factions and the nationalist Fatah movement in the camp, leaving a dozen people dead, hundreds displaced and causing extensive damage. In September, the Palestinian belligerents agreed to a cease-fire.
This article originally appeared in French in L'Orient-Le Jour.