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More than 9,000 students have been killed and more than 15,000 others wounded in the ongoing Israeli war on the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, reports the Palestinian Ministry of Education and Higher Education.

The official Palestinian Wafa news agency, citing the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, reported on Tuesday that a total of 9,241 students had been killed and 15,182 injured since the start of the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip and the West Bank on October 7, 2023.

The Ministry reported that over 9,138 students were killed in the Gaza Strip, while 14,671 others were injured there.

With Gaza's education system decimated, some 620,000 school-age Palestinians are out of school and more than 88,000 students are unable to enroll in universities, according to the ministry.

In West Bank, 103 students were killed, 505 injured and around 357 students were detained during the nine months of war.

The report also indicated that a total of 497 teachers and administrators have been reported killed, with 3,426 others injured in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

In the Gaza Strip, a total of 353 educational institutions, including government schools, universities, university buildings, and 65 belonging to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Refugees (UNRWA), were targeted in bombings and acts of vandalism.

Out of these buildings, 139 suffered severe damage, 93 were completely destroyed, and 133 government schools in the Gaza Strip were repurposed as shelter centers, according to the report.

In the West Bank, 69 schools and five universities have been attacked and vandalized.

The bloodshed in Gaza’s schools-turned-shelters, which Israel alleges are used by Palestinian resistance movement Hamas as hiding spots, has been a recurring scene throughout the war.

Only in the past 10 days, five UN-run schools have been hit by Israel forces, UNRWA posted on social X platform.

UNRWA in its recent report said that its facilities in Gaza had been attacked by Israel 453 times since the war began last October, and that more than 500 people sheltering in its buildings had been killed. The UN has also said that 80 percent of schools in the territory have been destroyed or damaged.

UNICEF, the UN children’s agency, has recently described the number of wounded children as “staggering” in Gaza.

Israel’s war has killed at least 38,713 people, including nearly 16,000 children, in Gaza since early October last year. Tens of thousands have also been wounded.

Some 21,000 children are also missing while 17,000 have been orphaned. 

With continuing landslides in coastal and malnad areas of Karnataka, a Maruti van got stuck under the soil, near Doddatappale village, on the Bengaluru-Mangaluru national highway, in Sakleshpur taluk, on Thursday morning.

The two passengers in the car managed to escape but with minor injuries.

A landslide occurred at the same place on Wednesday, affecting vehicular movement for a while. However, the soil was removed and the route cleared for traffic.

On Thursday morning, around 100-ft tall hillock collapsed. Hence, traffic has been suspended on the national highway. Vehicles are stopped at Kandali on the outskirts of Hassan and not allowed to ply after Sakleshpur as a precautionary measure.

Vehicles are also stranded from Maranahalli to Donigal. Highway authority personnel and taluk administration officials are on the spot and measures are being taken to clear the route.

A pregnant woman was injured when the wall of the house collapsed at Kudigarahalli in Sakleshpur taluk. She has been admitted to the district hospital in Hassan.

A KSRTC bus fell into the roadside ditch near Maniganahalli in Alur taluk, as the driver lost control of the vehicle due to rain. The passengers in the bus suffered minor injuries.

Mangaluru, July 19: In what is being termed as a result of negligence on the part of Mangalore Electricity Supply Company Limited (Mescom), a teenage college girl was electrocuted to death in Muluru, under the limits of Gurupura gram panchayat, in the coastal district of Dakshina Kannada.

The victim has been identified as Ashwini Shetty, a student at a private college in Mangaluru who aspired to become a Chartered Accountant. She is survived by her mother, father, and elder brother.

The tragedy occurred when Ashwini accompanied her father to a paddy field. It is learned that their pet dog, which had followed them, came into contact with a live wire and started struggling. Ashwini, while attempting to rescue the dog, reportedly stepped on the live wire and was electrocuted.

A neighbor of the deceased, speaking about the incident, said, "There were sparks emitting from the wires, and we immediately informed the authorities concerned, but they did not respond to our calls."

"Around 7 pm, we heard someone screaming. Everyone gathered, and we tried to take her to the hospital, but we were unsuccessful in saving her life. This whole incident could have been prevented if the Mescom officials had responded on time and cut the power supply," he added.