UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 4 (Xinhua) -- Warning that Gaza remains unsafe for civilians, UN humanitarians said Tuesday that their partners report Israeli attacks on schools for Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said its partners reported that a sixth-grade student was struck and wounded by a bullet while in a Gaza City tented classroom on Tuesday. The child was taken to the hospital.
On Monday, in Beit Lahia, Israeli forces reportedly demolished homes, as well as the last remaining school in what was previously a four-school compound, OCHA said.
The office said Israeli forces advanced to the area last week, destroying the tents of nearly a dozen families sheltering in the schoolyard, and set markers on a further expansion of areas where Israeli authorities have imposed access restrictions. Humanitarian partners rapidly mobilized support for displaced people.
In the West Bank, OCHA said Israeli authorities on Tuesday demolished parts of a school in the Masafer Yatta area of southern Hebron, where more than 1,000 Palestinian residents are under pressure to leave. Across the West Bank, more than 80 Palestinian schools are currently subject to demolition or related orders.
The office said that so far this year, partners working on education have reached more than 60,000 students in the West Bank through remedial and catch-up learning programs, rehabilitated 30 schools, provided protective measures for more than 2,600 students and education personnel in high-risk areas, and delivered education-specific cash assistance, psychosocial support and legal aid.
However, OCHA said funding remains critically low, with just over 10 percent of the funding required for education support secured this year. ■
