A 10-year-old Palestinian girl was killed on the grounds of her United Nations school in a Gaza refugee camp yesterday by what Palestinian officials said was Israeli tank fire.

The Palestinian girl, Norhan Deeb, was killed in the Rafah refugee camp, on the border between Gaza and Egypt, a frequent flashpoint of violence between Israeli troops and Palestinian fighters.

A second girl, aged seven, was shot in the hand, the sources said.

UN officials said that while they could not definitively identify the source of the gunfire, all signs pointed to the Israelis. "The only firing that took place at that time in the entire Rafah area came from the so-called Salah Edin IDF observation post," an Israeli position about 800 metres away from the school, said a spokesman for the UN Relief and Works Agency.

Palestinian and UN officials said the girl was hit in the head as she and other pupils lined up in the schoolyard for afternoon assembly, and that a second girl was wounded in the hand.

"I was with the other teachers outside. The children were in line, waiting to go into their rooms. Suddenly, we heard screaming. So I ran toward the children, and saw the girl on the ground and covered with blood," said the deputy principal, Mariam Abu Shamala.

PHOTO CAPTION

Relatives of Palestinian girl Norhan Deeb mourn over her body as it lies in the family house before her funeral in the Rafah refugee camp, southern Gaza Strip, Monday, Jan. 31, 2005. (AP)