More than 800 Palestinian teachers have been killed and over 3,300 injured since Israel launched its genocidal war on the besieged Gaza Strip in October 2023, the Palestinian Education Ministry says.

In a statement ahead of World Teachers’ Day on Oct. 5, the ministry said that more than 170 were also detained, adding that educators across the occupied Palestinian territories are facing a “real battle for survival” to preserve the right to education amid ongoing attacks and restrictions.

The ministry said the education sector in Gaza and the occupied West Bank has suffered extensive damage and disruption, while teachers face movement restrictions and harassment at checkpoints, particularly in Masafer Yatta south of al-Khalil, al-Mughayyir in the central West Bank, the Jordan Valley and other areas.

The ministry also said financial pressures have compounded the difficulties facing Palestinian educators. It attributed the hardship in part to Israel’s withholding of Palestinian clearance revenues, taxes collected by Israel on behalf of the Palestinian Authority.

The withholding of the revenues has deepened the Palestinian Authority’s financial crisis and affected its ability to pay public employees and maintain essential services. Clearance revenues account for about 56% of total Palestinian public revenues, according to the ministry.

Israel systematically kills Gaza educators, students: Report

The Palestinian Ministry of Education and Higher Education has said that the Israeli regime has killed or wounded thousands of Gaza educators and students.

The ministry called on the international community, the UN, and education and human rights organizations to take urgent measures to protect students and education personnel.

Elsewhere in the statement, it also urged education unions worldwide to press for the release of detained teachers and the restoration of withheld financial entitlements.

Israel’s war on Gaza has destroyed large swaths of the besieged territory. Israeli occupation forces have particularly targeted schools, colleges, universities and hospitals.

Nearly 75,000 people have been killed, the great majority of them women and children. Thousands more are missing or presumed to be dead under the rubble.