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Nobel peace winner Malala donates prize money to rebuild Gaza school

Associated Press
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Oct. 10, 2013: In this file photo, Malala Yousafzai poses for photographs in New York. (AP)

Oct. 29, 2014: Children rights activist Malala Yousafzai, right, receives the World's Children's Prize from Swedish Queen Silvia, left, at Gripsholm Castle in Mariefred, Sweden. (AP/TT News Agency, Anders Wiklund)

The U.N. agency that assists Palestinian refugees says Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai has donated $50,000 to rebuild a U.N. school in Gaza damaged during this summer's Israel-Hamas war.

UNRWA says Malala is donating all of the proceeds of the $50,000 World Children's Prize, which she collected in Stockholm on Wednesday.

The agency quoted Malala as saying Palestinian children deserve a quality education, and that "without education, there will never be peace."

Dozens of Gaza's U.N. schools were damaged or destroyed during the 50-day war. Israel says it fired near schools responding to Hamas' attacks from the areas.

The 17-year-old Malala won this year's Nobel Peace Prize for promoting girls' rights in her native Pakistan. She survived a shot in the head by a Taliban gunman two years ago.