Member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Head of the Department of Refugee Affairs, Ahmed Abu Holi, called on the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) today, Monday, to urgently intervene to restore the educational process in the Gaza Strip, catch up with the remainder of the current academic year, ensure protection and a safe educational environment, form a specialized committee to monitor and document Israeli crimes against the educational process in Palestine, and support the mandate of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).

The extraordinary session was held at the request of twelve members of the UNESCO Executive Board (Chile, Cuba, Djibouti, Indonesia, Jordan, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Qatar, South Africa, Spain, and Turkey) to support the continuity of UNRWA’s educational activities in response to the Israeli Knesset’s laws banning UNRWA’s activities, which would result in the collapse of the educational process led by the Agency in its areas of operation in Palestine.

Abu Holi stressed that Israel, the occupying power, did not stop at destroying the education sector in Gaza, but rather declared war on the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) by targeting its employees and facilities, killing 243 of its employees and destroying 190 of its facilities, most of which were schools in refugee camps in the Gaza Strip, in defiance of international laws, especially Security Council Resolution 2730, which was adopted on May 24, 2024.

Abu Holi warned of the repercussions of the laws passed by the Israeli Knesset to ban UNRWA activities, the implementation of which could lead to the collapse of UNRWA operations in Palestine. It will affect its schools in the Gaza Strip, which number 284 schools with an estimated 300,000 students, as well as 96 UNRWA schools in the West Bank, with an estimated 49,000 students. The danger will also haunt about 45,500 students in the occupied city of Jerusalem, who receive their education through 146 schools affiliated with the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, in addition to 6 UNRWA schools with 1,800 male and female students.

Abu Holi explained that the Israeli laws passed by the Knesset on October 28, 2024 aim to dismantle UNRWA and end its work, noting that the right-wing occupation government announced that eliminating the agency is one of the goals of its war.

Abu Holi stressed that the ongoing war of extermination has deprived more than 788,000 male and female students of their right to education, in addition to 58,000 who did not enroll in education in the new academic year 2024-2025, and 39,000 who did not take the high school exam, while most students suffer from psychological trauma and face difficult health conditions. More than 11,946 students were martyred, and more than 18,858 students were injured, while 115 students were martyred in the West Bank and 609 others were injured, in addition to the arrest of 466 students, and 564 teachers and administrators were martyred and 3,729 were injured in the Gaza Strip, and more than 153 teachers and administrators were arrested in the West Bank, including occupied Jerusalem, and 115 scientists and university professors were martyred.

Abu Holi stressed that the Israeli occupation state committed an educational genocide by targeting educational institutions, especially schools, explaining that 458 schools affiliated with the government and UNRWA were bombed and vandalized in the Gaza Strip, including 335 schools that suffered severe damage that is difficult to repair, and 123 schools that were completely destroyed, in addition to 6 universities that were completely or partially destroyed, in addition to 58 schools that were notified of demolition by the Israeli occupation authorities in areas classified as (B, C) in the West Bank, including Jerusalem.