660,000 Gaza children remain out of school amid Israeli genocide: UNRWA
Iran Press TV
Sunday, 31 August 2025 8:07 PM
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has warned that more than 660,000 children have been deprived of schooling for a third consecutive year due to relentless Israeli genocidal war across the besieged Palestinian territory.
"The war in Gaza is a war on children and it must stop. Children must be protected at all times," UNRWA said in a recent statement.
The UN agency further cautioned that the besieged region's youth are at risk of becoming a "lost generation."
The Palestinian Education Ministry said around 700,000 students in the blockaded strip have seen their schooling suspended under incessant bombardment by the Israeli invading forces.
According to ministry data, more than 70,000 have remained unable to take high school exams for two consecutive years.
Israeli attacks since October 2023 have killed at least 17,000 school students and more than 1,200 university students in Gaza, while injuring tens of thousands more.
Nearly 1,000 education workers have been killed in Gaza, and thousands more injured or detained across the besieged strip.
Also in the occupied West Bank, dozens of students have been killed, wounded, or detained by Israeli forces during the same period. The toll has extended to teachers and academic staff.
UNRWA also, in a social media post on Sunday, said that children in the besieged Palestinian strip were once again being forced from their homes as Israel intensifies its military offensive.
"Children in Gaza are not walking to school. They are once again being forced to try to find somewhere safe. But there is nowhere," UNRWA wrote on X.
"The intensified Israeli military offensive is pushing thousands into the unknown," it noted.
The agency said overcrowding and the continued Israeli blockade of aid are leaving families without shelter.
"There is not enough space. There are not enough tents," it added.
UNRWA has been barred by Israel from bringing in shelter supplies for nearly six months, a restriction it said is worsening the crisis as thousands of families are displaced with nowhere to go.
The UNRWA and humanitarian organizations have called once again for permission to bring in basic necessities and lifesaving relief into Gaza.
The Israeli military pushes ahead with its genocidal campaign in Gaza, killing more civilians, including hungry Palestinians waiting to collect aid.
In the past 24 hours alone, 30 Palestinians seeking aid were killed, and seven more have died of malnutrition.
Israel has killed over 63,400 Palestinians, mostly women and children, in Gaza since October 2023. The aggression has devastated the blockaded Palestinian region, which is facing famine.
Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former war minister Yoav Gallant, for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the besieged Palestinian territory.
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