Forty-five people are dead and dozens more are hurt after an Israeli airstrike hit a United Nations-run school housing displaced Palestinians, June 6. Photo: MGN Online

Gaza’s Ministry of Education says Israel has killed at least 11,852 students across the besieged Palestinian territory since October 2023. 

In a statement released on October 29, 2024, the ministry said that 18,959 were also injured since the beginning of Israel’s war since October 7, 2023.

The statement said 114 students have been killed in the occupied West Bank and 594 injured during the same period. 

At least 560 teachers and administrators have been killed and 3,729 injured in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, and more than 148 have been detained in the Occupied Territory. 

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The ministry said 362 government schools, universities and their buildings, and 65 affiliated with the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) have been bombed and vandalized in Gaza. 

At least 718,000 students in the Gaza Strip have been deprived of attending their schools and universities with most students suffering from psychological trauma and facing complex health conditions. 

Israeli attacks across the besieged Palestinian territory persist, with classrooms reduced to rubble or transformed into shelters for the displaced. 

The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas has said the international community should pressure Israel to end its genocidal campaign in Gaza which, among other things, has been depriving thousands of students of education.

The Palestinian Ministry of Education earlier reported that nearly 80 percent of Gaza’s schools have been damaged or destroyed. The last remaining university in the territory was demolished by Israeli forces in January. 

According to UNRWA, four out of every five school buildings in Gaza have been directly hit or damaged. (UN News)