Gaza war deprives 800,000 students of ‘right to education’: Media Office

At least 800,000 students have been deprived of an education as Israel’s months-long offensive against the Gaza Strip continues, the Gaza Media Office said Saturday, Anadolu news agency reported.

The Office said, according to a statement by the Ministry of Education in Gaza, “more than 800,000 students of various educational levels in the Gaza Strip have been deprived of their right to education since Oct. 7 last year, due to the genocidal war being waged by the criminal Zionist occupation on the Gaza Strip.”

Among them: “40,000 high school students from various branches will not be able to participate in this year’s session of the high school exams, representing an unprecedented violation that threatens their future and undermines their chances of enrolling in local and international universities and colleges,” the Office added.​​​​​​​

Early Saturday, 50,000 students went to final high school exam halls, “Tawjihi,” in West Bank governorates and Palestinian schools abroad, while the Israeli onslaught prevented students in Gaza from taking the exams.

The Gaza Media Office said that “85% of educational facilities are out of service due to direct and deliberate targeting, posing a significant challenge to efforts to resume the educational process after the war ends.”

“Plans have been put in place to make up for the academic year for students from the first (elementary) grade to the eleventh grade and higher education students, ensuring that the academic year is not lost and that they possess the essential concepts and skills necessary for their continued learning,” said the Office.

Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since a 7 October, 2023 attack by Hamas.

The Palestinian death toll from relentless Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip since last October has exceeded 37,400, according to the Ministry of Health in the besieged enclave.

More than 85,600 people have also been injured in the onslaught, the Ministry added.

Over eight months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lay in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which in its latest ruling has ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its operation in the southern city of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on 6 May.

READ: 450 Palestinian schoolchildren killed by Israel ahead of high school exams: Education Ministry