The group has issued a statement saying that this crime “will not break our people’s will, or erase their identity or take away their national rights”, Al Jazeera reports.

On its official Telegram channel, Hamas said the denial of 630,000 students of their right to education is a “deliberate violation to all rights stipulated by international laws, which leaves the international community and UN agencies responsible to put an end to these crimes”.

With the start of the school year in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, without the Gaza Strip, Hamas reiterated: “The Israeli war against schools and educational workers and facilities will not succeed in erasing our children’s Palestinian identity. These crimes will only be met with more perseverance by our people.”