Hamas has condemned the “systemic targeting” of schools and universities in Gaza, calling the Israeli conduct a war crime that aims to destroy the educational system in the Palestinian territory.
The Palestinian group stated that Israel has destroyed 390 educational institutions in Gaza.
This was in response to a recent footage of Israeli forces blowing up the Al-Israa University in southern Gaza in what appeared to be a controlled demolition.
Hamas said the attacks on educational institutions are part of “the genocide and ethnic cleansing” of Gaza and Israel’s push to “destroy all elements of life” in the enclave.
“We call on the United Nations and international rights groups to document these crimes and all crimes by the terrorist Zionist occupation in the Gaza Strip, and to shoulder their responsibility to condemn and prosecute this criminal entity,” Hamas said.
Earlier, Birzeit University, one of the top universities in the occupied West Bank, condemned the Israeli blowing up of Al-Israa University in Gaza.
Al-Israa is the latest higher education institution to be completely destroyed by Israel during its war on the Palestinian territory.
Birzeit University also accused Israel of stealing more than 3,000 rare artefacts from the national museum on Israa’s campus.
In a post on X, it said that it reaffirmed “the fact that this crime is part of the Israeli occupation’s onslaught against the Palestinians.”
“It’s all a part of the Israeli occupation’s goal to make Gaza uninhabitable; a continuation of the genocide being carried out in Gaza Strip,” it added.
Generally, the military attacks on the Gaza Strip have not stopped. Over the past 24 hours, more than 170 Palestinians have been killed alongside more than 320 others being injured.
The main concentration of the Israeli air attacks has been mainly in the southern parts, in particular Khan Younis, where the military is using all possible military methods in order to cause destruction and to carry out genocidal attacks against residential neighbourhoods.
One of the latest strikes there killed four Palestinians in Abasan town in the eastern side. Rafah has also been hit in the last hour. Loud explosions were heard and later discovered to be farmlands directly targeted by the military.
Medical Aid Covers Only 30 Percent Of Gaza’s Needs
Also on Thursday, Ashraf al-Qudra, the spokesman for the Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip, gave a press conference where he said that the medical aid received that day barely meets 30 percent of the territory’s needs.
“The ministry warns of serious health complications to which 350,000 chronic patients are exposed as a result of the lack of availability of medicines and their failure to enter the Gaza Strip,” he said.
He asserted that ten thousand cancer patients are still exposed to serious complications as a result of the lack of medicines and lack of healthcare in areas of displacement, adding that there is massive overcrowding at Tal al-Sultan Maternity Hospital, Abu Yousef Al Najjar Hospital and the healthcare centres in Rafah.
“The ministry calls on Egypt, the other Arab countries, and the countries of the free world to find new mechanisms to ensure the outside medical treatment of more than 6,500 wounded people is an urgent priority and to receive them in their hospitals and health centres,” he said.
Earlier, the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) disclosed that since October 21, it has received 5,939 trucks from the Egyptian Red Crescent through the Rafah border crossing containing food, water, relief aid and medical supplies.
In the same time period, the organisation said that it also received 88 ambulances.
According to repeated statements by local and international aid groups and workers, the numbers represent just a fraction of what is needed to cover the immense needs of Gaza’s population.
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