Latest figures show about 10,000 Palestinian students along with 400 teachers have been killed in the besieged enclave since the beginning of Israel’s war on October 7.

The Palestinian Ministry of Education said on Monday that it presented a report last month about the way that Israel’s targeting of schools in Gaza has “eroded the foundation for sustained societal growth”.

Amjad Barham, Palestinian Minister of Education and Higher Education, said on Monday that 39,000 high school students from the Gaza Strip did not take the exam this year.

Barham added, “There is no overall pass rate because the number of students is incomplete”, due to the killing of 10,000 students in Gaza and the inability of the remaining students to take the exams amid the months-long war.

More than 76 percent of schools in Gaza require “full reconstruction or major rehabilitation” to be functional, according to the United Nations.

Based on satellite imagery collected in May, the new Education Cluster assessment highlights a “continuous spike in the direct targeting of schools” in the besieged and bombarded territory.

Of the school buildings used as shelters for displaced people in Gaza, 69 percent have been directly hit or damaged in attacks and more than 96 percent of the schools directly attacked – 296 in total – were located in areas subject to Israeli military evacuation orders, it added.

In April, the UN children’s agency UNICEF said eight out of 10 schools in Gaza are damaged or destroyed with an estimated 620,000 students out of school. Nearly half of Gaza’s population is under 18, and its education system was already struggling after several wars and escalations since 2008.

Back in April, UN experts expressed deep concern over the pattern of Israel’s attacks on schools, universities, teachers, and students in the Gaza Strip, raising serious alarm over the “systemic” destruction of the Palestinian education system.

“With more than 80% of schools in Gaza damaged or destroyed, it may be reasonable to ask if there is an intentional effort to comprehensively destroy the Palestinian education system, an action known as ‘scholasticide’,” the experts stated.

Israel has completely destroyed 117 schools and universities, while partially destroyed 332 schools and universities in Gaza. More than 107 scientists, university professors, and researchers were also killed.

Since the start of Israel’s war, Tel Aviv has killed at least 39,360 Palestinians and injured over 90,920.

The Government Media Office in Gaza reported on Tuesday that Israel has killed at least 16,000 children in the besieged territory since October. Thousands more are also missing and presumed dead under the rubble.

In a post on his X account, Lazzarini said the Israeli regime issues evacuation orders forcing people to flee every other day.

These orders have created “havoc” and “panic” among the people of Palestine in Gaza, he added.

Quite often, Gazans are given a few hours to pack whatever they can and start all over again, “mostly on foot or on a crowded donkey cart for those who can afford it.”

“Almost everyone in Gaza has been impacted by these orders. Many were forced to flee on average once a month since the war began nine months ago,” Lazzarini wrote.

A man recently told the UNRWA teams that Israel had forced him to flee twice within 10 hours, he said.

The UN official emphasized that the Palestinian people continue to search for safety as the most precious and the most nonexistent thing.

He added: “This evacuation tactic only brings more misery, fear and suffering for people who have nothing to do with this war.”

“The people of Gaza are not pinballs or chess pieces, they are people,” Lazzarini stated.

Last Tuesday, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the occupied Palestinian territories announced that the Israeli military had ordered the evacuation of, or designated as “no-go zones” more than 80% of the besieged Gaza Strip.

Israel launched the war on Gaza on October 7 after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas waged the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity in response to the Israeli regime’s decades-long campaign of bloodletting and devastation against Palestinians.

Tel Aviv has also blocked water, food, and electricity to Gaza, plunging the coastal strip into a humanitarian crisis.

Since the start of the offensive, the Tel Aviv regime has killed more than 39,300 Palestinians and injured over 90,800. Thousands more are also missing and presumed dead under rubble.