OMM Redaksiyası
More than 800 Palestinian teachers have been killed and over 3,300 injured since Israel began its war on the Gaza Strip in October 2023, the Palestinian Education Ministry said on Sunday.
In a statement issued ahead of World Teachers’ Day on Oct. 5, the ministry said educators in the occupied Palestinian territories were fighting “a real battle for survival” to protect the right to education amid what it described as systematic targeting.
Teachers detained and movement restricted
The ministry said more than 170 teachers remained in detention in “harsh conditions”. It also cited movement restrictions and harassment at hundreds of checkpoints, saying these had worsened educators’ daily difficulties.
It highlighted conditions in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron, the village of al-Mughayyir in the central West Bank, the Jordan Valley and areas designated as Area C.
Under the 1995 Oslo II agreement, the West Bank was divided into Areas A, B and C. Area A is under Palestinian civil and security control, Area B under Palestinian civil administration and Israeli security control, while Area C—about 60% of the West Bank—remains under full Israeli control.
Ministry cites financial pressure
The ministry said abuses against teachers had been accompanied by severe financial hardship, undermining their material and psychological stability as Israel withholds Palestinian tax revenues.
Known as clearance revenues, the funds are taxes collected by Israel on behalf of the Palestinian Authority on imported goods and transferred under the 1994 Paris Protocol. Israel began deducting amounts from the revenues in 2019 and later halted transfers, worsening the Palestinian Authority’s financial crisis and its ability to pay public-sector salaries in full.
Clearance revenues make up about 56% of total Palestinian public revenues. Their withholding, the ministry said, has hindered salary payments, public services and the fulfilment of government obligations.
Call for international action
The ministry described the impact on Gaza’s and the West Bank’s education sectors as “comprehensive genocide” and urged the international community, the United Nations, and education and human rights organisations to act urgently to curb violations and provide protection for students and education personnel.
It also called on trade unions worldwide to press for the release of detained teachers and the payment of withheld financial entitlements, saying educators should be able to live with dignity.
