TEHRAN- The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has reported that more than 76% of schools in the Gaza Strip have been damaged by the Israeli war on the blockaded enclave.

In a post on social media, UNRWA said, “Over 76% of schools need reconstructing or require major rehabilitation to be functional again.”

The UN agency cited research by the Global Education Center, a coordinating mechanism between aid organizations working in the field of education in the cases of internal displacement caused by conflicts, which is co-led by UNICEF.  

Despite this, UNRWA said its “teams continue to reach children with play and learning activities. Education is a fundamental human right.”

The Israeli occupation has been accused of deliberately targeting schools in the Gaza Strip, leading to numerous massacres over the past eight months. 

This is despite the education centers being used as shelters for hundreds of thousands of civilians who have been displaced from their homes as a result of the Israeli invasion. 

As the ongoing strikes by Israeli forces continue with aerial, land and maritime bombardment across the Gaza Strip, the widespread damage committed by the U.S.-backed genocidal war on Gaza has had a damaging impact on education for Gazan students with many putting their dreams on hold as missiles rain down around them. 

According to a report by Relief Web in late March, the Israeli military’s actions have disrupted the education and safety of 625,000 students and 22,564 teachers in Gaza.

Of the 378 schools affected, constituting 76% of all school buildings, 117 suffered severe damage or destruction. Around 433,000 children and 16,200 teachers were impacted.

A large majority of schools have been directly targeted by Israeli airstrikes in what is a war crime. 

In February, the spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General, Stephane Dujarric, announced that 30% of Gaza’s schools had been directly bombed by the Israeli occupation forces.

Dujarric mentioned that out of a total of 563 schools, 162 were directly bombed, with 26 completely destroyed.

He pointed out that the schools that were directly targeted accommodate around 175,000 students and employ more than 6,500 teachers. 

The senior UN official also confirmed that at least 55% of Gaza’s schools require complete reconstruction or significant rehabilitation.

According to the United Nations, more children were killed in the Gaza Strip in five months than in all armed conflicts worldwide over the past four years. 

More than 12,000 Palestinian children have been killed by Israeli forces since October 2023. 

Tens of thousands have been maimed and hundreds of thousands have been left traumatized by nearly nine months of war.

Nearly 20,000 others have been left orphaned. 

“The longer children stay out of school, the more difficult it is to catch up, with lasting consequences,” UNRWA said. 

Critics accuse the Israeli military of deliberately targeting the younger generation in a bid to pile pressure on Hamas and other Palestinian resistance factions which the occupation’s army has been unable to defeat militarily or dismantle on the ground in Gaza.