Gaza Herald – Israel obstructs the recovery of Gaza’s education system through a sustained blockade, widespread destruction of schools and universities, and restrictions on reconstruction materials, according to the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor. In a statement released March 5, the organization said these measures had effectively prevented hundreds of thousands of Palestinian students from returning to formal classrooms nearly two and a half years after the start of Israel’s military offensive.
The group reported that Israeli forces had repeatedly targeted civilian infrastructure, including educational facilities, rendering the vast majority of schools and higher education institutions inoperable. It described the pattern as deliberate and systematic, arguing that the scale and repetition of attacks went beyond incidental damage and reflected a broader assault on Gaza’s knowledge infrastructure and civilian life.
According to the statement, what remained of formal education had been reduced to limited instruction in heavily damaged facilities, including some schools operated by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), as well as improvised community initiatives. Many classes had been held in tents or unstable structures lacking minimum safety standards, with more than 780,000 students reportedly deprived of regular schooling for three consecutive academic years.
Euro-Med documented extensive casualties within the education sector, reporting the killing of 18,911 school pupils and 1,362 university students, alongside thousands of injuries. It also recorded the killing of 794 school teachers and 246 university faculty members and researchers, with thousands more wounded. The organization said these figures demonstrated direct and systematic targeting of the Palestinian academic community.
The physical devastation was described as sweeping: 668 school buildings had been directly bombed, 179 public schools had been completely destroyed, and 118 severely damaged. In addition, 100 UNRWA schools were reportedly struck or vandalized, while 63 university buildings were reduced to rubble. An estimated 95 percent of schools in Gaza sustained damage, with more than 90 percent requiring full reconstruction or major rehabilitation.
The Monitor further stated that temporary measures, including limited online learning under conditions of electricity shortages, poor internet access, and ongoing insecurity, had failed to meet basic educational standards. It warned that prolonged disruption had deepened learning gaps, exacerbated psychological trauma among children, and threatened long-term social and economic recovery in the enclave.
Calling for urgent international action, Euro-Med urged global actors and UN agencies, including United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), to secure immediate funding and implement a coordinated reconstruction plan. The organization stressed that restoring schools and universities as protected civilian spaces was essential to safeguarding the right to education and preventing what it characterized as the continued erasure of Gaza’s educational future.
Gaza Herald –
