RAMALLAH: The Ministry of Education said that 4,368 students were killed and 8,101 others were injured since the beginning of the Israeli aggression on October 7th on the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

The Ministry explained in a statement released on Tuesday that the number of students who were killed in the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the aggression reached more than 4,327 and 7,819 were wounded, while in the West Bank 41 students were killed and 282 others were injured, in addition to 85 of them who were detained.

It indicated that 231 teachers and administrators were killed and 756 were injured in the Gaza Strip, five were injured, and more than 71 were detained in the West Bank.

The statement pointed out that 281 government schools and 65 affiliated with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Refugees (UNRWA) were bombed and vandalized in the Gaza Strip, which led to 83 of them being severely damaged and seven completely destroyed, whereas 42 schools in the West Bank were stormed and vand
alized.

The Ministry of Education confirmed that the Israeli targeting of schools affected 90% of government school and education buildings, which were subjected to direct and indirect damage, in addition to 29% of school buildings that could not be operated due to being completely demolished or severely damaged, and that 133 government schools were used as shelter centers in the Gaza Strip.

It indicated that students will actually attend schools for the second semester, while 55 schools will shift to e-learning due to them being located in a ‘seam zone’ – an area separated from the rest of the occupied West Bank by Israel’s apartheid wall, and is usually surrounded by Israeli forces and settlers.

Source: Palestine news and Information Agency – WAFA