ISTANBUL
The UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) reported this Sunday, June 23, that Israel bombed 69% of the schools that house displaced people within the Gaza Strip.
In a statement, the UN agency said that “according to the Global Education Cluster, 69% of school buildings where displaced families sought shelter have been directly affected or damaged.”
“This blatant disregard for humanitarian law must stop. We need a ceasefire now,” he added.
On Friday, UNRWA noted that in Gaza, more than 76% of schools need major reconstruction or rehabilitation to become operational again, according to the Global Education Cluster.
The cluster, established in 2007 by the Inter-Agency Standing Committee, is led globally by UNICEF. It serves as a joint coordination mechanism between organizations involved in humanitarian responses within the education sector during cases of internal displacement.
As of June 17, the Israeli war had caused the complete destruction of 110 schools and universities, and 321 schools and universities had suffered partial damage. The offensive has also claimed the lives of more than 10,000 students, according to the Gaza Strip Press Office.
See also: Gaza denounces that 800,000 students are deprived of the right to education due to Israel’s offensive
By ignoring a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continuing brutal offensive against Gaza since an October 7 attack by the resistance group Palestinian Hamas.
Since then, more than 37,500 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, most of them women and children, and more than 86,000 have been injured, according to local health authorities.
More than eight months after the start of the Israeli war, vast areas of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.
Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), whose latest ruling ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before being invaded on May 6.
*Ikram Kouachi and Aicha Sandoval Alaguna contributed to the writing of this note.
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