Hamas’ education ministry recently denounced the use of UN textbooks in Gaza’s schools, saying the materials “contaminate the minds of our dear students” and deceive them into accepting peace with Israel.

“There is a tremendous focus on the peaceful resistance as the only tool to achieve freedom and independence,” Motesem al-Minawi, spokesman of the Hamas Education Ministry, complained about the latest UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency) textbooks for high school students in Gaza.

Gazan children learn from Hamas textbooks that deny Israel’s existence

Earlier this month, Hamas called on Gaza’s teachers not to use the UN’s materials in their classrooms, saying they “do not fit the culture of the Palestinian society and are meant to brainwash Palestinian students and convince them to accept the Zionist enemy.”

The terrorist group views the United Nations’ materials as an affront to Palestinian society, saying they ignore “Palestinian cultural mores.” In the words of al-Minawi, the textbooks are “completely detached from the reality of an Arab Muslim Palestinian student.” Hamas especially objected to the inclusion of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in UN textbooks, characterizing parts of the document as a violation of Islamic Law.

Girls at a school in Gaza. Those over the age of nine are forbidden from interacting with male students and teachers.

According to the Education Ministry, the materials “contaminate the minds of our dear students.”

The group’s recent reactions are just one example of its efforts to indoctrinate Gaza’s youth with messages of hatred and violence. Last month, 13,000 young people officially graduated from Hamas’ youth paramilitary camps, designed to encourage Gazan teens “to follow in the footsteps of the suicide martyrs.” In November 2013, the terrorist organization introduced new textbooksthat denied Israel’s existence and called Jewish holy sites “fabricated”.

Teenagers participate in Hamas’ youth terror programs

As Hamas complains about the assistance it receives from the UN, it continues to neglect the needs of Gaza’s civilians. Of the 1.7 million people living in the Gaza Strip, about 1.2 million receive education benefits, medical care and socioeconomic support from UNRWA. Hamas, which supports the remaining third of Gaza’s population, consistently neglects the needs of Gaza’s civilians, using its funds to expand terrorist infrastructure and manufacture weapons.