Systematic Israeli Bombing of Schools and Universities Ruins Education in Gaza

Two Palestinian children inspect the damage to an UNRWA school following an Israeli air strike (dpa)
Two Palestinian children inspect the damage to an UNRWA school following an Israeli air strike (dpa)
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Systematic Israeli Bombing of Schools and Universities Ruins Education in Gaza

Two Palestinian children inspect the damage to an UNRWA school following an Israeli air strike (dpa)
Two Palestinian children inspect the damage to an UNRWA school following an Israeli air strike (dpa)

Tasneem Safi, 29, spends long hours with her five-year old daughter Layan, striving to teach her some of the basics of the Arabic language and mathematics, and repeating to her some of the lessons that she was receiving in kindergarten until just two days before the outbreak of the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7.
The war broke out only three weeks after the start of the new school year in the Palestinian territories.
Safi is one of thousands of mothers who are trying to make up for the educational gap incurred by their children in the current school year, if they were “lucky” enough to move to a safer place.
“I teach her letters, numbers, words, and simple mathematical problems. Her school journey cannot begin late,” Safi told Asharq Al-Awsat.
But the circumstances imposed by the war on Gaza do not make even these attempts successful.
Safi faces many life problems like other residents of the Gaza Strip, with interruptions in electricity, water, and food supplies, and living under bombardment, killing, and destruction.
She says her daughter always asks her where she will study after Israel destroyed the kindergarten she used to attend in the Al-Nasr neighborhood in the northern Gaza Strip, and enquires about her friends as well.
“Children grow up prematurely. They think about difficult and complex things, not ABC. I feel like they are lost. I don’t know when or how they will return to education,” she remarked.
During the current war on the Gaza Strip, Israel bombed universities, schools, and kindergartens of all kinds, whether they were private or belonged to the government or to UNRWA, as part of a strategy that many residents saw as also aiming to deprive an entire generation of education.
UN experts said that the ongoing harsh attacks on educational infrastructure in the Gaza Strip have a devastating, long-term impact on the population’s basic rights to learn and express themselves, depriving another generation of Palestinians of their future.
Since the outbreak of the war, at least 625,000 students were forced to abandon the academic year, while Israel killed more than 5,479 students, 261 teachers, and 95 university professors, and injured more than 7,819 students and 756 teachers.
According to international and local statistics, 80 percent of schools in Gaza were destroyed, which indicates a deliberate attempt to comprehensively destroy the Palestinian education system, an act described as “educational genocide” by international experts.
The term refers to the systematic erasure of education through the arrest, detention, or killing of teachers, students, and staff, and the destruction of educational infrastructure.
Reham Hamid, the mother of Rami, who was studying in an UNRWA school in Al-Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza City, said that she was forced to send her 9 year-old son to a tent inside a school housing the displaced, in order for him to attend classes.
Despite initiatives to open educational classes in tents, the process did not go as it should, due to the lack of human resources, tools and space, according to Hamid.
While the Ministry of Education, whether in the Gaza Strip or the West Bank, did not issue any comment on the fate of the academic year in the Strip, thousands of high school students are still waiting for any glimmer of hope in order not to lose an entire year.
Student Ramadan Makkawi said that he was feeling lost.
“We spent the most important stage in any student’s life displaced and under bombing. We think about survival, homes, family, and food instead of universities. A difficult situation to describe,” he said.
He continued: “It is clear that there is no solution. We will pay the price with our lives.”

 



UN Says ‘Deliberate’ Choices ‘Systematically’ Depriving Gazans

04 June 2025, Palestinian Territories, Nusirat: Displaced Palestinians gather in a charity kitchen to receive aid amid a shortage of food, in Nuseirat refugee camp. (Belal Abu Amer/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa)
04 June 2025, Palestinian Territories, Nusirat: Displaced Palestinians gather in a charity kitchen to receive aid amid a shortage of food, in Nuseirat refugee camp. (Belal Abu Amer/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa)
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UN Says ‘Deliberate’ Choices ‘Systematically’ Depriving Gazans

04 June 2025, Palestinian Territories, Nusirat: Displaced Palestinians gather in a charity kitchen to receive aid amid a shortage of food, in Nuseirat refugee camp. (Belal Abu Amer/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa)
04 June 2025, Palestinian Territories, Nusirat: Displaced Palestinians gather in a charity kitchen to receive aid amid a shortage of food, in Nuseirat refugee camp. (Belal Abu Amer/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa)

The UN aid chief said Wednesday that recent "horrifying scenes" of Gazans being killed while seeking food aid were the result of "deliberate choices that have systematically deprived" them of essentials to survive.

A US and Israeli-backed group operating aid sites in the Gaza Strip announced the temporary closure of its facilities on Wednesday, with the Israeli army warning that roads leading to distribution centers were "considered combat zones".

The announcement by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation follows a string of deadly incidents near the distribution sites it operates.

On Tuesday, 27 people were killed in southern Gaza when Israeli troops opened fire near a GHF aid site, with the military saying the incident was under investigation.

"The world is watching, day after day, horrifying scenes of Palestinians being shot, wounded or killed in Gaza while simply trying to eat," UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher said in a statement.

"Emergency medical teams have confirmed treating hundreds of trauma cases. Yesterday alone, dozens were declared dead at hospitals after Israeli forces said they had opened fire.

"This is the outcome of a series of deliberate choices that have systematically deprived two million people of the essentials they need to survive."

He echoed the call by UN chief Antonio Guterres for immediate independent investigations, saying they were not isolated incidents, and the perpetrators must be held accountable.

"No-one should have to risk their life to feed their children," said Fletcher.

The GHF began operations a week ago, but the UN and major aid groups have refused to cooperate with it over concerns it was designed to cater to Israeli military objectives.

Meanwhile the United Nations has described the amount of aid allowed into Gaza, after Israel partially lifted a more than two-month total blockade, as a trickle.

"We must be allowed to do our jobs: we have the teams, the plan, the supplies and the experience," said Fletcher, the UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator.

"Open the crossings -- all of them. Let in life-saving aid at scale, from all directions. Lift the restrictions on what and how much aid we can bring in.

"Ensure our convoys aren't held up by delays and denials. Release the hostages. Implement the ceasefire."