Devastating Gaza: Israel's Attack on Education and Hope

Women Journalists Without Chains (WJWC) has accused Israeli occupation authorities of systematically targeting the education sector in the Gaza Strip,

warning that hundreds of thousands of students have been deprived of their right to schooling for a third consecutive year.

In a statement issued this week, the organization said ongoing bombardments, forced evacuations, and the siege of Gaza have left schools in ruins and students displaced. Even community-based initiatives to continue classes in shelters have collapsed under the pressure of repeated shelling and military orders, while online education is impossible due to the destruction of power and internet infrastructure.

“Students in Gaza are being robbed of their most basic right to education,” the organization said. “Their lives have been reduced to survival — searching for food and water while their classrooms are turned into rubble.”

According to WJWC, since October 2023 Israeli forces have directly attacked more than 550 schools in Gaza. Highly destructive munitions, including U.S.-manufactured weapons, were used in strikes that killed thousands of civilians and leveled dozens of educational facilities. As a result, more than 600,000 students have been left without access to education.

The United Nations reported that by May 2025, over 95 percent of schools in Gaza had suffered damage, with 501 requiring full reconstruction or major rehabilitation. Many schools that survived bombardment were converted into makeshift shelters for displaced families, only to be struck again.

WJWC highlighted several recent cases where schools being used as shelters for displaced people were bombed.

On May 6, Israeli forces struck Abu Hamisa School in Al-Bureij Camp, an UNRWA-run facility housing about 2,000 displaced civilians. The attack killed at least 30 people, including women and children.

Six days later, on May 12, warplanes bombed the Fatima Bint Asad Government Preparatory School in Jabalia, killing 15 civilians, eight of them children. Shortly afterward, the adjacent Jabalia Government Elementary Girls School was also hit.

On May 28, a strike without warning hit Fahmi al-Jarjawi School east of Gaza City. Thousands of displaced civilians were inside at the time. At least 31 were killed, and witnesses reported bodies torn apart as the building was blown apart and debris scattered for dozens of meters.

“These attacks on schools sheltering displaced civilians are deliberate violations of international law,” WJWC stated. “They reflect a systematic pattern aimed at destroying civilian life and depriving Palestinians of their right to education.”

The Ministry of Education and Higher Education in Gaza reported on September 2 that 18,508 students have been killed and more than 28,000 injured since Israel’s campaign began on October 7, 2023.

The Gaza Ministry of Health has also documented a total of 63,746 Palestinian deaths, including 2,339 people killed while searching for aid. Hundreds more have died under rubble that rescue teams could not reach due to ongoing shelling.

Starvation has added to the death toll. Since the Israeli army launched “Operation Gideon 2” in August, civilians in Gaza City and surrounding areas have been cut off from food supplies. Health officials reported 367 starvation deaths, including 131 children, as of early September.

WJWC said the deliberate destruction of Gaza’s education system amounts to war crimes and crimes against humanity under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. It also violates the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which guarantees the right to education and health, as well as the Geneva Conventions, which prohibit targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure.

“The targeting of schools, universities, and kindergartens, and the imposition of unbearable living conditions, constitute flagrant violations of international humanitarian law,” the organization said. “These actions are not isolated incidents but part of a systematic campaign that amounts to genocide.”

The organization urged urgent international intervention, calling on the United Nations, the states party to the Geneva Conventions, and the International Criminal Court to take decisive action. Its demands include opening humanitarian corridors to deliver educational and relief supplies, initiating reconstruction of schools, and providing psychosocial support programs for students and teachers.

“Education is a sacred right that must not be violated, even in times of war,” the group said. “The silence of the international community only deepens the catastrophe and encourages further destruction.”

WJWC concluded that the deprivation of education for more than 600,000 students, combined with the loss of thousands of lives, foreshadows a bleak future for generations in Gaza. “The international community has a legal and moral obligation to act immediately to protect civilians, hold perpetrators accountable, and ensure the right to education is restored,” the organization stated.