6 Palestinian students killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza over 2 days: Education Ministry

Six Palestinian students were killed and others injured in Israeli attacks in Gaza over the past two days, while two schoolgirls were wounded by Israeli gunfire at a school in the north of the enclave, the Education Ministry said Wednesday.

The escalation comes nearly a month after in-person classes resumed in Gaza on Sept. 19, following nearly three years without regular schooling due to Israel’s genocidal war.

In a statement, the ministry said Israeli military vehicles opened fire at Muradiya Girls’ School and its surroundings in Jabalia on Wednesday, injuring two students, Souad Qandil and Amna Khaled Ali Khader.

Souad, a sixth-grade student, was shot in the thigh and required surgery, while Amna, a fourth-grade student, sustained abdominal injuries, the ministry said.

The ministry provided no further details about the girls’ health conditions or where the other six students were killed.

It said the incident came amid a “serious and ongoing escalation” targeting Palestinian students and children.

The ministry warned that repeated attacks on schools and students were undermining the remaining foundations of the education system in the Gaza Strip.

“Schools should be safe places for learning, not arenas of fear, injury and death,” it said, stressing that “targeting students deprives them of their fundamental right to education.”

It called on the UN and relevant international and human rights organizations to intervene urgently to safeguard students and educational staff, halt attacks on schools and their surroundings, and hold those responsible accountable.

According to figures from the Palestinian Education Ministry, the new academic year is expected to serve around 541,000 students in Gaza through approximately 700 in-person educational sites, alongside online learning, despite the extensive destruction of schools.

Since October 2023, Israel has waged a genocidal war on Gaza that has killed more than 74,000 Palestinians and wounded over 175,000 others, while destroying around 90% of the civilian infrastructure in the enclave.