The Ministry of Education and Higher Education warned of escalating risks threatening the lives of school students and children in the Gaza Strip, after the number of children killed in recent attacks rose to five, among them the child Majd Mohammad Fakhri Hassan, who was no older than fifteen, demanding urgent international action to protect them.
The Ministry affirmed that the killing of five children in successive incidents represents a grave humanitarian and educational loss and a violation of their basic rights to life, safety and education, stressing the need to provide protection for them and enable them to continue their education away from the dangers of bullets and bombardment.
It noted that exposing students to danger while heading to their schools or returning from them, as well as in the vicinity of their locations and their schooling, raises growing concerns about their safety and places the international community before its legal and humanitarian responsibilities.
The Ministry called on the United Nations, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), international mechanisms concerned with human and children's rights, and institutions defending the right to education to take practical steps to protect students and ensure their safe access to schools and educational centres, rather than limiting themselves to monitoring violations and expressing concern about them.
It also called for documenting attacks on students professionally and independently, investigating their circumstances and holding those responsible accountable under international law, alongside taking urgent measures to protect children, educational facilities and workers in the education sector, in a way that limits the recurrence of these incidents.
