By the Numbers: A Terrifying Statistic Documenting the Scale of the Genocide Against Education and Students Over 3 Years of Aggression

Ramallah - Gaza - Afaq News - The Ministry of Education and Higher Education announced today, Wednesday, its statistical report on the violations committed by the Israeli occupation forces against the educational sector in Palestine during three years of genocide, extending from October 7, 2023, to October 7, 2026.

The ministry clarified, under the slogan "Three Years After the Genocide... Education is a Will That Will Not Be Broken," that the toll of martyrs among students in the Gaza Strip reached more than 19,189 male and female students in schools, and 1,386 male and female students in universities, while 28,586 school students and 3,082 university students were injured with varying degrees of wounds.

In the West Bank, 134 school students and 39 university students were martyred, and 871 school students and 283 university students were injured, while 416 students from schools and 481 students from universities were arrested.

Regarding educational and administrative staff, 805 workers in schools and 246 lecturers and workers in universities were martyred in the Gaza Strip, in addition to 3,298 injuries in schools and 1,493 in universities. In the West Bank, 7 school staff members were martyred and 26 others were injured, while the occupation arrested more than 176 teachers and school staff and 21 university workers.

Concerning the targeting of educational institutions, the ministry indicated that the occupation completely destroyed more than 179 government schools in the Gaza Strip, bombed and destroyed more than 105 schools belonging to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), in addition to the complete destruction of more than 63 university buildings.

In response to this destruction and to continue the educational process, 700 educational and learning points have been opened in various areas of the Gaza Strip, and 12 virtual schools have been established to serve students in Gaza both inside and outside Palestine.

In the West Bank, the occupation continued its targeting of educational institutions; it issued a final order to demolish the "Jinba" school in Masafer Yatta south of Hebron, and closed 4 schools in the old town of Hebron for several days (Yasser Amro, Al-Faiha, Qurtuba, and Al-Ibrahimiya). It also refrained from granting permits to teachers working in private schools in occupied Jerusalem to obstruct their access to work, and continued to storm Palestinian universities, the latest being the storming of Birzeit University.