52 schools destroyed, $4M of damage: Gaza pays the bill

Hamas says Israel deliberately targeted Gazan schools Schools have been seriously damaged, or entirely destroyed in some cases following the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip. Students who used to go to the now-destroyed schools have been relocated to other establishments in the Strip by the Ministry of Education.
More than 100 schools have been seriously damaged and 52 schools have been destroyed according to Mahmoud Mattar, General Manager of Public Education. Mattar explained that the damages to educational establishments are similar to what Gaza witnessed in the last Israeli attacks in 2008.
“We estimated our losses at around $4 million,” said Mattar, who said that some schools were deliberately targeted by Israeli aircraft.
Hundreds of thousands of students went back to school last week in Gaza. Dozens of students were killed in the Israeli air strikes.
Dozens of pupils had organised a mourning protest when the Al-Dalu family was struck. The sons of the family used to attend the same school as the protesters’ before they were killed in an Israeli air strike.
With sadness and fear on their faces, the pupils stood still before the rubble of the family’s home. They raised pictures of their dead colleagues; one of them reads: “We condemn the massacre committed against our friends.”
The students chanted slogans: “We sacrifice our blood and souls for your sake, dear martyrs”. The students were shocked to see the extent of the devastation. They looked scared as they entered the classrooms.
Osama al-Muzaini, Minister of Education in Gaza, said that 50 schools had been severely damaged as a result of the Israeli aggression.
Muzaini said: “Many victims of this war were young children, pupils and students. Five teachers were killed and 300 students and teachers were injured during the aggression.”
 More than 90 percent of children have now gone back to school in Gaza.
More than 1.7 million people live in the Gaza Strip, 460,000 are schoolchildren.