More than 15,000 children, mostly kindergarten and school-age children, as well as 64 students from schools in the West Bank, including Jerusalem, have been killed since the start of the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Education and Higher Education.
In a statement released on Tuesday, the ministry noted that the theme of this year’s International Day of Innocent Child Victims of Aggression—June 4—is “The Children of Gaza,” as they are the ones most affected by the aggression that has been ongoing since October 7th, and they are the ones who are paying a heavy price for it.
In addition to destroying schools and kindergartens, the occupation targeted civilians and children in particular and killed, forcibly displaced, arrested, denied food and medical care, and committed other grave violations that went beyond the bounds of the law, charters, and the human rights system, according to the statement.
The statement also noted that since the beginning of the aggression in the Gaza Strip, 620,000 students have been prevented from attending school, and 88,000 students have been prevented from attending universities. The majority of these students also face challenging health conditions and psychological trauma.
The occupation’s killing and injuring of thousands of Palestinian students is a blatant disregard for the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which protects children during times of conflict. A violation of the right to education as stipulated in the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights is the deliberate destruction of educational facilities, including schools.
In addition to the need to hold the perpetrators accountable and bring them to justice, these actions have a psychological and social impact on students that reflects the enormity of the tragedy endured by an entire generation. As such, the international community and human rights organizations must step in to stop these crimes, protect civilians, and guarantee their rights to mental health and education. Furthermore, these actions amount to war crimes under international humanitarian law, and international accountability is necessary to ensure that there is no impunity.
Since October 7, 2023, the IOF has been waging a devastating war on the Gaza Strip, resulting in catastrophic humanitarian and health conditions, due to the continuous bombing and the prevention of supplies of food, water, medicine, and electricity.
The Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip constitutes a blatant violation of international humanitarian law and human rights, as it exposes the lives and property of civilians to extreme danger, which requires urgent intervention from the international community to stop the aggression and protect civilians in the Gaza Strip.
