Israeli aggression kills over 16,000 students, devastates education sector in Gaza and West Bank

The Palestinian Ministry of Education and Higher Education announced that 16,382 students were martyred, and 25,959 injured since the start of the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, the Ministry said that the number of students martyred in the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the aggression has reached more than 16,245, and 25,062 injured. In the West Bank, 137 students were martyred, 897 others were injured, and 749 were detained.

The Ministry indicated that 917 teachers and administrators were martyred, 4,347 were injured in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, and more than 196 were detained in the West Bank.

It noted that 443 government schools, universities, and their affiliated buildings, as well as 91 schools affiliated with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), were bombed and vandalized in the Gaza Strip. Sixty university buildings were completely destroyed, and 20 educational institutions sustained severe damage. In the West Bank, 152 schools and eight universities were raided and vandalized.

Six UNRWA schools in Jerusalem have remained closed since May 8.

Separately, the number of Palestinian journalists martyred since the beginning of the genocidal war on the Gaza Strip has risen to 227, following the announcement of the martyrdom of a photojournalist while covering events in the Strip on Monday.

In a statement issued today, the Government Media Office in Gaza condemned in the strongest terms the systematic targeting and assassination of Palestinian journalists by the Israeli occupation, holding it fully responsible for these brutal crimes.

The office called on the international community and all human rights and media organizations to take a firm stance to condemn the occupation's crimes, work to respond to them, and prosecute them legally before international courts. The perpetrators of these crimes must be brought to justice, and journalists and media professionals in the Gaza Strip must be protected and stopped from being targeted and assassinated.

Since the outbreak of the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7, 2023, Palestinian journalists have faced extremely dangerous conditions, subjected to direct and systematic targeting while carrying out their journalistic duties. Local and international reports have documented the injury of more than 400 journalists, the arrest of 49 others in Israeli prisons, and the enforced disappearance of several journalists.