Israeli army destroys three schools in southern Lebanon, minister says

What the report says

Al Jazeera, citing Anadolu and Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency, reported that Lebanese Education and Higher Education Minister Rima Karami accused the Israeli military of looting and demolishing three schools in southern Lebanon. In a statement carried Friday, Karami said the schools were blown up and left in ruins, adding them to the expanding toll on education facilities during Israel’s war with Hezbollah.

According to the report, UNESCO said in June that 17 schools in Lebanon had already been destroyed and more than 100 others damaged. The latest alleged demolitions would raise the number of completely destroyed schools to at least 20. UNESCO has also warned that about 500,000 Lebanese children are out of school because of the conflict, with long breaks in education posing risks to children’s development and wellbeing.

Al Jazeera reported that the fighting intensified into full-scale war in March after months of Israel-Hezbollah cross-border exchanges that followed the start of the Gaza war in October 2023. Israel says its operations are aimed at Hezbollah. Lebanese authorities, as cited in the article, say Israeli attacks since March have killed at least 4,324 people, injured 12,223 and displaced more than one million, including 250 children among the dead.

The report also noted a US-mediated framework agreement signed by Lebanon and Israel on June 26 for a phased Israeli withdrawal from occupied Lebanese territory, without a fixed timetable and linked to Hezbollah’s disarmament in those areas. The UN Development Programme estimates more than 11,000 buildings have been destroyed in southern Lebanon since March.