Gaza: ‘More than 19,000 Palestinian schoolchildren have died since October 2023’ (Palestinian Ministry)

Kinshasa, November 20^th, 2025 (CPA). – More than 19,000 schoolchildren have died and around 28,000 others have been injured since the start of the war in Gaza between Israel and the Islamist movement (Hamas), causing a decline in school attendance, according to the Palestinian Ministry in charge of Education and Higher Education, quoted on Thursday by the Algeria Press Service. ‘More than 19,000 schoolchildren have died and around 28,000 have been injured, while hundreds of schools, kindergartens, nurseries and playgrounds have been totally or partially damaged in Gaza and the West Bank since the start of the genocide war waged by Israel,’ has written the Palestinian Ministry in charge of Education and Higher Education. The Palestinian Ministry has released these figures on the occasion of the World Children’s Day, celebrated on November 20^th of every year. According to the source, on this day dedicated worldwide to children’s rights to the protection, the education, the dignity, the care, the play and others, ‘the children of Palestine deserve to live in a stable environment that guarantees them the right to free, safe and quality education, as guaranteed by international charters and laws, notably the 1959 Declaration of the Rights of the Child and the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child,’ it has added. Furthermore, he has stressed that ‘at a time when countries and institutions around the world are celebrating this event, the violations committed by the occupying army and its settlers against our children continue in various regions, in Gaza, El Qods and in areas classified as ‘C’ (under Israeli occupation).’ “There is hardly a day that goes by without mourning a child who has been martyred by the bullets of a settler or a soldier of the occupying forces. This reality is not limited to statistics; it is the story of lives, dreams, ambitions and hopes shattered in an instant,‘ he has protested, noting that ’the consequences of the crimes committed by the Israeli army against children in Gaza are still visible and require punishment and deterrence. » In this context, the ministry has called for « the urgent protection of children and students in Palestine, for support for educational relief and recovery efforts for children and students in Gaza, for the rehabilitation of educational infrastructure in affected areas, for the expansion of psychosocial support programmes for affected students, and for continued investment in equitable, quality education that promotes resilience, » the source has concluded.