BEIRUT / Naeem Barjawi / Anadolu

Lebanese Minister of Education and Higher Education Rima Karami on Friday accused the Israeli army of blowing up three public schools in the south of the country after looting their contents.

This came as the Israeli army continued on Friday to attack 11 towns and areas in southern Lebanon with airstrikes, artillery shelling, demolition operations, sweeping operations, and incendiary bombs, according to an Anadolu tally based on data from the National News Agency.

Minister Karami said in a statement that the Israeli army "destroyed three schools completely, after booby-trapping two public schools in the town of Khiam in the Marjayoun district, and another public school in the city of Bint Jbeil."

She added that the Israeli army "looted the contents of these institutions" then surrounded them with explosives, leading to their complete destruction, adding them to the "list of destroyed schools."

Karami considered that this is happening "under the eyes of the entire world, despite the fact that the international charter of the United Nations considers schools among the most protected and safe institutions, and communities resort to them during crises and wars."

She added that "expressions of denunciation and condemnation are no longer enough to express the pain and sorrow over what is happening in terms of aggression."

Earlier on Friday, the National News Agency reported that the Israeli army destroyed the Al-Mahdi School in the Saf al-Hawa area of Bint Jbeil.

At the beginning of July, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) announced that at least 100,000 children in Lebanon face the risk of not returning to school with the start of the next academic year, unless urgent measures are taken before next September to repair and rehabilitate damaged schools.

UNICEF added that 340 schools, including public and private schools, were damaged, while 17 schools were completely destroyed in the governorates of Nabatieh, South, Bekaa, Baalbek-Hermel, Beirut, and Mount Lebanon.

Since March 2, 2026, Israel has continued its military operations in Lebanon, resulting in the deaths of 4,324 people and injuries to 12,224 others, in addition to the displacement of more than one million people, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health.