11,600 Palestinian School-age Children Martyred During Year of Israeli Aggression on Gaza Strip

The Palestinian Ministry of Education in the Gaza Strip documented the martyrdom of 11,600 Palestinian school-age children, and the injury of thousands with injuries, physical disabilities and psychological trauma, during a year of Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip. The ministry said in a statement that the occupation deprived 650,000 male and female students from attending their schools for the second academic year in a row, in addition to 100,000 male and female students in higher education institutions, and nearly 35,000 children in kindergartens. It indicated the martyrdom of more than 750 teachers, educational and administrative employees, 130 scientists, academics and university professors, and the injury of hundreds of workers and employees in the Ministry of Education, while the fate of hundreds remains unknown. The ministry reported that 93% of school buildings, rehabilitation and training centers, production and educational technology centers, and other buildings affiliated with the ministry w ere completely or almost completely damaged. It noted that the occupation directly and deliberately targeted the administrative and academic buildings and facilities affiliated with higher education institutions, destroying more than 130 facilities in universities, colleges, and institutes in the Gaza Strip. The ministry expressed its concern about the seriousness of the occupation's continued crimes against the education sector, and the continued deprivation of children and students of their right to protection and safe education. It called for effective international and human rights steps to ensure the protection of children and educational facilities, and to pressure the occupation to stop its crimes against the education sector, and to hold it accountable for its crimes before international bodies. The Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip entered its 363rd day, leaving 41,788 martyrs and 96,794 wounded, the majority of whom are children and women, amid the continuation of Israeli air strikes on all g overnorates of the Strip, and the continued deepening of the humanitarian crisis experienced by the residents of the Strip. Source: Qatar News Agency