Israeli forces have destroyed three schools in southern Lebanon, the minister says | Children’s Rights Issues

About 20 schools have been destroyed in Southern Lebanon, while another 100 have been damaged.

Israeli forces seized and destroyed three schools in southern Lebanon, according to the country’s education minister.

Israel “robbed” schools before using explosives to turn them into “piles of ash”, Minister of Education and Higher Education Rima Karami said in a statement carried by Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) on Friday.

Karami said the schools were added to the growing list of educational institutions destroyed during the war.

The war in Lebanon escalated into a full-scale war in March after months of border exchanges between Israel and Hezbollah after the start of the massacre in Gaza in October 2023. Israel says it wants Hezbollah.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) said in June that 17 schools in Lebanon have been destroyed in Lebanon and more than 100 have been damaged. The latest demolition brings the number of destroyed schools to 20.

About 500,000 Lebanese children are out of school because of the war, according to UNESCO, which warns that disrupting education for a long time can have lasting effects on children’s development and health.

The destruction of Lebanon’s schools and education is happening “in front of the whole world,” Karami said, despite international commitments to protect schools during the war.

He called on the international community to pressure Israel to stop attacking educational institutions and protect schools from war.

According to Lebanese officials, Israeli attacks since March have killed at least 4,324 people, injured 12,223, and displaced more than a million others. The dead are 250 children.

Lebanon and Israel signed an agreement between the US on June 26, which provides for the gradual withdrawal of Israel from all areas occupied by Lebanon. The agreement does not set a timeline for withdrawal, and instead ties it to the confiscation of Hezbollah’s weapons in the territory they have been captured.

The UN Development Program (UNDP) says more than 11,000 houses in southern Lebanon have been destroyed since the war escalated in March.