Over 90% of Gaza schools destroyed: Palestine education minister

Over 90 percent of schools have been destroyed in Gaza amidst Israel's ongoing bombardment of the enclave, the Palestinian education minister has said.

Amjad Barham said that of 309 schools, 290 had been destroyed, while the remainder were repurposed as refuges for the displaced.

Educational sites belonging to UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA were not safe from Israel's war on Gaza, he added, however, many have become displacement facilities.

"Barham said that the educational situation in the Gaza Strip is tragic, and the Israeli occupation wants to destroy the future of 'our children'," the official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

He said 80 percent of universities have been destroyed and 630,000 students are unable to access education.

"We lost 9,500 of them [students] to the Israeli aggression," the minister said, with 15,000 wounded, including 5,000 disabled because of the "continuation of this aggression and the fierce war on our people".

He said 19,000 students entered Egypt and that attempts were being made to allow them to finish their education.

"We decided that educational life would return to the Gaza Strip through tents despite the random bombing, through e-learning for all students present in Gaza and outside it, and that the high school exams would be held, which is one of the most difficult challenges," Barham said.

Humanitarian agencies have warned that the absence of education will leave children with long-term difficulties and make it harder to pick up learning again.

The head of the UN Palestinian refugee agency, UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini said that Gaza’s children are at risk of "child labour, early marriage and recruitment by armed groups" as a result of the number of children out of school.

In an interview with global fund Education Cannot Wait, Lazzarini said that the war will have “lasting consequences” on children’s mental well-being.

He noted that education is frequently disrupted for Gaza’s young people, considering how many times has assaulted the enclave in the past ten years.

Officials have warned that Gaza’s post-war reconstruction could take years, raising questions over how children will receive schooling trapped in a territory with no schools.

Israel's war on Gaza has so far killed at least 40,099 people, according to the Palestinian enclave's health ministry.

Hospitals, ambulances, and residential buildings have been attacked during the brutal Israeli military offensive.

South Africa has dragged Israel before the International Court of Justice, accusing it of genocide.