The bombing occurred during the War of Attrition (1967–1970), part of Operation Priha's deep penetration strategy which aimed to relieve the conflict along the line of contact on the Suez Canal by striking deep targets.
While civilian targets were not deliberately attacked during Priha, some were hit due to human error.

Israel said that it had thought the school was an Egyptian military installation.

When asked about the incident, Israeli Minister of Defense Moshe Dayan said: "Maybe the Egyptians put elementary students in a military base."
Speaking about the incident, Egyptian commander Abdelatim Ramadan said: "Actually, two targets were hit by the Israelis.
The first target was a group of military bases about 30 km.
from the Suez Canal, which were targeted before, on the night of 18–19 December 1969.
The second target was the Bahr El-Baqar primary school."
The bombing occurred during the War of Attrition (1967–1970), part of Operation Priha's deep penetration strategy which aimed to relieve the conflict along the line of contact on the Suez Canal by striking deep targets. While civilian targets were not deliberately attacked during Priha, some were hit due to human error.
Israel said that it had thought the school was an Egyptian military installation.
When asked about the incident, Israeli Minister of Defense Moshe Dayan said: "Maybe the Egyptians put elementary students in a military base." Speaking about the incident, Egyptian commander Abdelatim Ramadan said: "Actually, two targets were hit by the Israelis. The first target was a group of military bases about 30 km. from the Suez Canal, which were targeted before, on the night of 18–19 December 1969. The second target was the Bahr El-Baqar primary school."
Bahr El-Baqar primary school bombing