The education sector in Gaza is entering one of its darkest periods in history, after the Israel turned schools into rubble, libraries into ashes, and classrooms into silence devoid of students’ laughter. Hundreds of thousands of children have been deprived of their natural right to education, while teachers’ faces have disappeared under the rubble of a war that targets both the present and the future.
The Canary reviewed the report issued by the Government Media Office, which paints a bleak picture of the current state of education in the sector, revealing the extent of the disaster left behind by the Israeli bombardment, which was not limited to the destruction of educational buildings, but extended to the assassination of students, teachers, and scholars, making this war a war on the future par excellence.
Israel’s widespread destruction of schools and universities in Gaza
The figures reveal the scale of the tragedy: around 95% of schools were damaged to varying degrees, while Israel has completely destroyed 163 schools, universities, and educational institutions. Another 388 institutions were partially destroyed, leaving a profound impact on the infrastructure of the education sector and making its reconstruction an urgent humanitarian priority that cannot be postponed.
The aggression did not stop at stones, but also took young lives. More than 13,500 students have been killed since the outbreak of the war, in a scene that sums up the occupation’s direct targeting of Palestinian children. These children were not just numbers, but the energy of the future and the pillars of progress. Their absence has left a painful void in homes and schools and an unhealed wound in the conscience of society.
Israel’s ongoing aggression has deprived more than 785,000 students of continuing their education for the third consecutive year. This is more than previously-released figures showed. The educational process was forcibly halted, and with it the dreams of thousands of children and young people whose futures are now threatened with ruin. Depriving an entire generation of a safe educational environment means deepening the tragedy and imposing a tragic reality on Gaza’s present and future.
Educators and scientists have not been spared by the Israeli war machine. More than 830 teachers and educational staff who were carrying out their mission of education have been killed, along with more than 193 scientists, academics, and researchers. These are heavy losses that represent a systematic assassination of Palestinian talent and an attempt to paralyze the community’s capabilities and deprive it of its creative energies, which form the basis of any project for advancement and reconstruction.
Educational genocide
Israel’s educational genocide in Gaza cannot be summed up in numbers and statistics, but is embodied in scenes of empty classrooms, torn school bags under the rubble, and dreams buried under the stones. It is a compound crime that confiscates the future as it has confiscated the present, turning future generations into victims of a never-ending war.
In the face of this tragic reality, saving education in Gaza remains an urgent humanitarian and moral duty that requires international intervention to rebuild what has been destroyed and guarantee children’s right to education. Education is not a luxury, but the foundation for the survival and continuity of society, and any neglect in supporting it means condemning future generations of Palestinians to a new catastrophe.
