Awad Rjoob, Ali Semerci and Fatma Zehra Solmaz
25 June 2025•Update: 25 June 2025
RAMALLAH, Palestine/ISTANBUL
Israeli forces have killed 16,802 Palestinian students and injured more than 26,000 in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip since Israel launched its genocidal war on Oct. 7, 2023, the Palestinian Ministry of Education said Tuesday.
Israel’s attacks in the Gaza Strip have killed 15,553 pre-university students and injured 23,411, while in the West Bank, Israel has killed 103 students, injured 691 and detained 361, it said in a statement.
The statement also included the number of university students killed in Israel’s attacks, reporting that 1,111 students lost their lives in the Gaza Strip, 2,317 were injured and many others were detained. In the West Bank, 35 students were killed, more than 219 were injured and 399 were detained.
The statement indicated that a total of 25,728 students in the Gaza Strip and at least 910 students in the West Bank have been injured in Israeli attacks.
The statement also said that in Gaza, 701 pre-university education staff were killed and 3,015 injured, while in the West Bank, four staff were killed, 21 were injured and 182 detained. At universities in Gaza, 221 staff were killed and 1,416 injured, with 17 detained in the West Bank.
In total, 926 education staff -- including 705 from pre-university schools – were killed in Gaza and the West Bank, with 4,452 injured.
Regarding attacks on educational institutions, more than 118 public schools in Gaza were destroyed, 252 severely damaged, 91 bombed and more than 60 university buildings completely demolished. Additionally, 93 schools run by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) were bombed.
The ministry said that Israeli forces damaged 152 schools and conducted raids on eight universities in the West Bank.
It also highlighted that students in the Gaza Strip were unable to sit for their high school exams, which began on June 21 for Palestinian students in the West Bank, including Jerusalem, marking the second time they missed these exams.
