RAMALLAH, Palestine/ISTANBUL

Over 150 Palestinian students and school staff were killed by Israeli army fire in the occupied West Bank since October 2023, the Education Ministry said Tuesday.

A ministry statement said that 147 students and five education staff lost their lives in attacks by the Israeli army, while 1,050 others were injured in the same period.

The ministry said that Israeli army forces also detained 1,039 students and staff members in raids in the occupied territory over the past two years.

It explained that two schools were destroyed in the West Bank, while several facilities and universities were raided since October 2023.

Tension has escalated in the West Bank since the start of the Israeli genocidal war on Gaza, where more than 67,000 people have been killed since late 2023.

According to official Palestinian figures, at least 1,048 Palestinians have been killed and around 10,300 injured in the West Bank since October 2023.

Israel has occupied Palestinian territories, as well as land in Syria and Lebanon, for decades and continues to reject withdrawal and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, based on pre-1967 borders.