KHAN YUNIS, (PIC)
The will of the Palestinians is undefeated, and neither Israel nor its supporters can crush their awareness. Their will is made of steel, and their consciousness is bright. The Zionist machinery of destruction cannot defeat them; it can only destroy the stones but cannot harm the rightful owner of the land.
In a manifestation of challenge and resilience in the midst of the genocide war, a school was established in the Al-Mawasi area, west of Khan Yonis, to compensate for the educational loss, as the academic year has been completely halted since the start of the genocidal war.
Layla Al-Wafi, the initiator of the school, named Al-Awa’ael (The Pioneers), stated that the school aims to complete the academic year that started before the war. The school had 800 male and female students enrolled.
She added in a statement to the Palestinian Information Center that the school was established by volunteers working in the field of education, using some wooden poles and fabrics, as a message of challenge and determination despite the hardships of the oppressive war.
She explained that the week is divided into three days for female students and three days for male students. The day is also divided into three periods according to the grade levels.
She affirmed that specialized teachers provide the educational service, and the school aims to complete the academic year to prevent its loss. She also indicated that they plan and aspire to expand the school “to accommodate a larger number of students because education is of great value to us Palestinians.”
In the corridors of the school, where the will and challenge are seen in their terrifying form, children are immersed in studying, writing, and acquiring knowledge amidst the buzzing of airplanes and the sound of cannons.
Sujood Radwan, a fifth-grade student, told our correspondent that she wants to complete the academic year despite the occupation and its supporters. She added that she dreams of becoming a doctor in the future, and Sujood plans to achieve her dream step by step.
Israeli army turns Gaza schools into military barracks
The Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor condemned the Israeli occupation army’s insistence on militarizing institutions and civilian facilities in the Gaza Strip, including turning schools and educational facilities into military bases, in a flagrant violation of international law and the rules of war.
The Monitor said in a statement that the Israeli army did not content itself with systematically and extensively targeting schools with bombing and massive destruction or deliberately targeting civilians seeking refuge in them; it also converted some of them into military bases, deployment areas for its forces and vehicles, detention, interrogation and torture centers, which contradicts the rules of international humanitarian law established to protect civilian objects from the dangers of military operations.
The Euro-Med Monitor documented several schools in various areas of the Gaza Strip that the Israeli army turned into military bases and detention centers during its field invasion of most areas of the Strip. It also addressed what the occupation soldiers had done during their control of these schools, transforming them into army barracks, and detention and torture centers.
80% of schools in the Strip destroyed
The Monitor revealed that Israel has destroyed 80% of the schools in the Gaza Strip since its aggression on October 7 last year. This was described by United Nations experts in a statement last month as an educational genocide that deprives another generation of Palestinians of their future.
It is estimated that more than 6,500 students and 756 teachers have been killed or injured in the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip until mid-last month.
Deprivation of at least 625,000 students from their right to education for a complete academic year continues. Many initiatives and initiators in Gaza, however, have sought to compensate Gaza students for the educational loss they have suffered since the beginning of the aggression more than seven months ago.
