Students stranded in war-torn Gaza protest for right to study abroad

GAZA - Dozens of Palestinian students stranded in Gaza on Tuesday held a protest, calling for permission to leave the region and resume their studies abroad.

The students, who have been denied travel and enrollment at universities outside the Gaza Strip for 13 months due to the blockade and the ongoing war, gathered outside Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, holding banners and chanting for their right to pursue education.

"The war has stolen a whole year from our lives, and we're still waiting to join our classmates in school," Ahmed Mansour, one of the stranded students who was studying medicine in Ukraine, told Xinhua.

The 22-year-old fears losing his future if he remains unable to return to Ukraine to complete his degree, a lifelong dream of his.

According to Gaza's Palestinian education authorities, around 1,500 students remain trapped in Gaza, unable to travel for their studies. Since May, the Israeli military has closed the Rafah border crossing -- a crucial gate for Gazans to leave or enter the enclave -- following an attack on Rafah city.

Israel has been launching a large-scale offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip in retaliation against a Hamas attack across the southern Israeli border on Oct 7, 2023, during which about 1,200 people were killed and about 250 taken hostage.

The Palestinian death toll from ongoing Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip has risen to 43,391, according to a statement from Gaza-based health authorities on Tuesday.