UNRWA: OVER 625,000 GAZA CHILDREN OUT OF SCHOOL FOR OVER EIGHT MONTHS

GAZA, June 29 (Bernama-WAFA) -- The United Nations (UN) Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said on Friday that over 625,000 children in Gaza have been out of school for more than eight months due to Israel’s ongoing genocidal war on the enclave. 

It said that 300,000 of them were UNRWA students before the war, the Palestine News and Info Agency (WAFA) reported.

“Play and learning activities provided by UNRWA teams are critical in preparing children to get back to school and restore their right to education,” the agency said on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter. 

Israel has proceeded with its genocidal offensive on the war-torn Strip in complete disregard of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which ordered Israel in a legally binding decision to halt its military offensive in Rafah, as it may violate its obligations under the Genocide Convention.

Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7, killing more than 37,000 Palestinians and injuring over 86,000 others.

Moreover, at least 10,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.

Palestinian and international organisations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.

The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forced displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced being forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.

-- BERNAMA-WAFA