Malala calls out Israel for destroying Gaza's education system

Pakistan’s Nobel Peace laureate Malala Yousafzai on Sunday said she would continue to call out Israel’s violations of international law and human rights in Gaza. 

She was speaking at a global summit on girls education in Muslim nations hosted by Pakistan and attended by representatives from dozens of countries. 

“In Gaza, Israel has decimated the entire education system,” Malala said while addressing the conference. “They have bombed all universities, destroyed more than 90 percent of schools, and indiscriminately attacked civilians sheltering in school buildings.

“I will continue to call out Israel’s violations of international law and human rights.” She added, “Palestinian children have lost their lives and future. A Palestinian girl cannot have the future she deserves if her school is bombed and her family is killed.”

Yousafzai was shot when she was a 15-year-old schoolgirl by Pakistani militants enraged by her education activism. She made a remarkable recovery after being evacuated to the United Kingdom and went on to become the youngest ever Nobel Prize winner at the age of 17.

The war in Gaza was sparked by Hamas’s attack on October 7, 2023, which resulted in the deaths of 1,208 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians.

During the attack, Palestinian militants took 251 people hostage, of whom 94 remain in the Gaza Strip, including 34 the Israeli military has declared dead.

Israel’s attack on Gaza has killed 46,537 people, the majority civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory considered reliable by the United Nations.