More than 800 Palestinian teachers have been killed and over 3,300 others injured since the Israeli regime launched its Genocidal war on the Gaza Strip in October 2023, while more than 170 educators remain detained, the Palestinian Education Ministry said Sunday.

In a statement ahead of World Teachers’ Day on Oct. 5, the ministry said Palestinian educators across the occupied territories are fighting “a real battle for survival” to defend the right to education amid systematic targeting by the Israeli regime.

The education sector in Gaza and the West Bank has suffered “comprehensive genocide” since the start of the Israeli regime’s genocidal war on Gaza, the ministry said.

The ministry said more than 170 teachers remain detained “in harsh conditions.”

Meanwhile, movement restrictions and harassment at hundreds of checkpoints have compounded the daily suffering of Palestinian educators, particularly in Masafer Yatta south of Hebron, the village of al-Mughayyir in the central West Bank, the Jordan Valley and areas classified as Area C.

Under the 1995 Oslo II agreement, the West Bank was divided into Areas A, B and C as an interim arrangement.

Area A is under Palestinian civil and security control, while Area B is under Palestinian civil administration and Israeli security control.

Area C, which accounts for about 60% of the West Bank, remains under full Israeli control.

The ministry said the Israeli regime’s abuses against Palestinian teachers have been accompanied by severe financial hardship, further 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.

The Zionist regime began deducting sums from these revenues in 2019 and subsequently halted transfers, deepening the Palestinian Authority’s financial crisis and weakening its ability to pay public employees’ salaries in full.

Clearance revenues account for approximately 56% of total Palestinian public revenues, making their withholding a major obstacle to paying salaries, providing public services and meeting government obligations.

The ministry urged the international community, the UN, and education and human rights organizations to take urgent action to curb violations and provide international protection for students and education personnel.

It also called on unions worldwide to press for the release of detained teachers and the payment of withheld financial entitlements to ensure Palestinian educators can live with dignity. (ILKHA)