The Israeli occupation forces had murdered more than 100 scholars and academics during the ongoing genocidal war on the Gaza Strip, the government media office in Gaza said Thursday.

The government office further pointed out that this step was a clear message from the Israeli occupation that it aims to completely eliminate scientists and researchers in the educational sector, as this comes on top of the paramount destruction suffered by said sector since the start of the war.

More than 103 universities and schools have been completely destroyed and another 311 suffered from damages of varying severity.

The office also condemned the occupation's assassination of scientists, academics, university professors, and researchers, calling on all universities and educational sectors all over the world to condemn this crime, which falls within the framework of genocide.

According to the EuroMed human rights monitor, the targeted academics are from numerous fields of science, and the majority of them represent the pillars of the academic sector in Gaza's universities.

The announcement comes as the Israeli occupation continues its aggression against Gaza for the 222nd day, with 35,233 martyrs hospitalized and 79,141 wounded, according to the government media office in Gaza.

Explosives-laden schools

The destruction will have reverberations for years to come, not just in terms of the loss of academic progress for the hundreds of thousands of children in Gaza, but physically as well, as UNRWA reported that there were thousands of tons of explosives left behind in schools that the Israeli occupation forces were chased out of by the Palestinian Resistance.

The UN agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said that it uncovered thousands of pounds of explosives inside schools and on roads after Israeli troops pulled out from Khan Younis.

This came after the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) announced it withdrew its 98th Division from Khan Younis.

"Following the withdrawal of ISF [Israeli security forces] from Khan Younis on 11 April, UNRWA alongside other UN agencies participated in a UN inter-agency assessment mission," UNRWA said.

"The mission concluded there are significant challenges in operating safely due to the presence of unexploded ordnance (UXOs), including 1,000-pound bombs inside schools and on roads," the agency said in a weekly report on the situation in the Gaza Strip.