Palestinian children hurt in civil defence drill

Ramallah More than 20 Palestinian pupils have been hospitalised after they were injured in a stampede during a civil defence drill held in their school in Al Arroub in the West Bank town of Hebron. Speaking to Gulf News, a senior official from the Palestinian Civil Defence said that the pupils rushed out of the school thinking that Israeli forces raided their institution. The drill was held in coordination with the Ministry of Education, the Hebron Education District and the Al Arroub Basic Boys School and the pupils were briefed about it, he said. Dr. Salah Al Hashlamon, head of the Al Ahli Public Hospital, told Gulf News that 26 students in the age group of 6-12 received light to moderate injuries in the stampede.