News - Middle East: The Palestinian Ministry of Education and Higher Education reported that 12,820 students have been martyred, and 21,351 injured since the start of the Israeli aggression on Gaza and the West Bank on October 7, 2023.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, the Ministry clarified that in Gaza, over 12,701 students have been martyred, and 20,702 injured since the aggression began. In the West Bank, 119 students have been martyred, 649 injured, and 542 arrested.

The Ministry also noted that 619 teachers and administrative staff have been martyred, and 3,831 injured in Gaza and the West Bank, with more than 158 detained in the West Bank.

The statement highlighted the extensive destruction to educational facilities. In Gaza, 171 government schools sustained severe damage, 77 were completely destroyed, and 191 schools were subjected to bombing and vandalism. 

Among these, 65 schools belong to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). Additionally, 20 higher education institutions suffered significant damage, while 51 university buildings were entirely destroyed and 57 partially destroyed.

In the West Bank, 109 schools were vandalized, and seven universities and colleges were subjected to repeated incursions by occupation forces, resulting in damage and tampering with their contents.

The Ministry emphasized that 788,000 students in Gaza remain unable to attend their schools and universities since the onset of the aggression. Most students are experiencing psychological trauma and facing dire health conditions.

Israel launched the war on Gaza on October 7, 2023, after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas waged the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Flood against the Israeli regime in response to the occupying entity’s decades-long campaign of bloodletting and devastation against Palestinians.

The regime’s bloody onslaught on Gaza has so far killed at least 45,338 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured another 107,764 individuals, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Thousands more are also missing and presumed dead under rubble.

The Israeli military has systematically blocked the entry of lifesaving food, medicine, medical supplies, fuel, and tents into the besieged Palestinian territory since October 2023.

The territory's critical infrastructure such as water networks, sanitation facilities and bread mills has all been razed to the ground.