Gaza Herald- A report by Cambridge University warns that an entire generation in Gaza is at risk of being lost due to the compounded impact of war, displacement, and the COVID-19 pandemic, which have caused significant educational, physical, and psychological harm.
According to data from OCHA, the ongoing conflict has killed 18,069 students and 780 teachers, and injured 26,391 students and 3,211 teachers, devastating Gaza’s education system.
Since 2020, children in Gaza have lost nearly five years of schooling due to prolonged closures caused by the pandemic and continuous Israeli military aggression. The report highlights a sharp decline in children’s physical and mental health, emphasizing that education remains the only buffer against psychological trauma.
Widespread malnutrition is also obstructing learning. The destruction of Gaza’s health and education infrastructure is described as a new form of warfare, directly threatening the future of its children.
Using global data on post-COVID education recovery, researchers modeled various scenarios for Gaza’s youth depending on when the war ends and how quickly the education system can be rebuilt.
Cambridge’s analysis underscores the cumulative impact of over two years of war, with the goal of informing both policymakers and the public. The report concludes that the scale of destruction in Gaza now exceeds that witnessed in recent conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria, placing children in an unprecedented humanitarian crisis.
