(JTA) — Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai announced that she would donate $50,000 in prize money to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency to rebuild damaged schools in Gaza.

Yousafzai, an advocate for worldwide access to education, was awarded the World Children’s Prize on Wednesday and promptly announced that she would donate the prize money to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees to assist its efforts to repair schools damaged by this summer’s fighting in Gaza.

“Innocent Palestinian children have suffered terribly and for too long,” said Yousafzai, 17, in remarks posted on the website of the UNRWA. “We must all work to ensure Palestinian boys and girls, and all children everywhere, receive a quality education in a safe environment. Because without education, there will never be peace.”

UNRWA schools played a prominent and controversial role in the recent conflict in Gaza. The schools served as civilian shelters and were intended to be safe havens from the fighting. Several schools were shelled, killing dozens of civilians and workers, andUNRWA officials reacted with outrage, accusing Israel of targeting schools. Israel denied targeting the schools, though it acknowledged that some of its shells had hit schools. However, rockets were also found stored in UNRWA schools and then subsequently disappeared, leading to Israeli accusations that agency officials had given them to Hamas.