Brussels, 29 August 2025
As the school year begins around the world, the children of Gaza have no school to return to. A reality that demands action now.
Since October 2023, Israel’s military campaign has killed over 15,000 children in Gaza, an average equivalent of one full classroom of children killed every single day. Schools have been destroyed, turned into shelters for displaced families, or attacked directly, leaving Gaza’s education system in ruins. Instead of carrying books and pencils, children carry the trauma of bombardment, hunger, and loss.
The targeting of education is deliberate. Schools as shelters are systematically targeted, children are cut off from any possibility of distance learning, as Gaza has been plunged into internet and electricity blackouts and some schools are used as military command centers by Israel in violation of international law, constituting a war crime.
This destruction of Gaza’s schools and the killing of children is part of the broader assault on the Palestinian people’s future and existence. This is a direct violation of international humanitarian law and of the universal right to education enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
IFRD calls on the international community to act with urgency:
- An immediate ceasefire and protection of civilians.
- Accountability for those responsible for targeting schools and children.
- The suspension of political and economic agreements with Israel, including the EU-Israel Association Agreement
The genocide in Gaza is not only taking lives but erasing generations. The international community must intervene now to protect the right to life and education for Palestinian children.
