WHILE schools around the world prepare to welcome a new academic year, Gaza’s schools have turned into piles of rubble, drowned in heavy silence broken only by the sounds of shelling instead of morning bells.
In Gaza’s schools, no timetables are hung on the walls, if walls remain at all, only the names of martyrs. The cheerful noise of children has been replaced by the cries of mothers under the rubble.
A third year without schools
In their third year without education, Gaza’s children are experiencing what feels like a forced absence from their own childhood. More than 650,000 students have been deprived of classrooms after 90% of schools in the Strip were destroyed or turned into shelters for the displaced, according to UNRWA.
In this context, Palestinian Ministry of Education spokesman Sadeq al-Khudour said: ‘The war in Gaza has deprived more than 630,000 students of their right to education since October 7th, 2023, in addition to over 58,000 who were supposed to start first grade this year.’
He added in a press statement: ‘Over 25,000 children have been killed or injured, more than 10,000 of them school students.’
He noted that most UNRWA schools, about 200 in total, ‘have turned into overcrowded shelters for displaced families, 70% have been bombed, with some completely destroyed and others severely damaged’.
While the Ministry of Education announced its intention to hold high school exams online this month, thousands of students live without electricity, without internet, without homes and without a clear future.
Eighteen-year-old student Nidaa Abu al-Ata only dreams of completing one ‘normal’ school year. She says, ‘Two years of my life have been lost. I don’t dream much anymore. I just want to study without shelling, without fear.’
Lost certificates under the rubble
Not everyone is waiting for September’s exams. Mohammed Taysir, who was supposed to start tenth grade, was killed when his home in al-Nuseirat was bombed. His aunt Anhar says, ‘He dreamed of becoming a teacher, but he left forever with his dream.’
Fifth-grader Mais Ramadan also joined the list of martyrs. ‘She eagerly awaited the new school year, as she always did, but the occupation killed her in her home before she could hear the school bell again,’ her father Tamer says, his words choking with grief.
Meanwhile, Jamal and Tuqa Abu al-Ata were martyred over a year ago, along with their entire family. Jamal was supposed to enter eighth grade, and Tuqa fifth. Their grandmother said: ‘They loved school very much. Jamal wanted to be an engineer, and Tuqa dreamed of becoming a teacher. The occupation killed them and their dreams. In March 2024, Israel bombed their home. They all died. None of them remain.’
Schools without roofs and broken dreams
The tragedy extends beyond those killed. It touches the survivors too, those who live with half a body or with hearts weighed down by trauma.
Twelve-year-old Shatha Hamdan lost her leg in a heavy bombing. Now in a wheelchair, she dreams of returning to school. But there are no schools, no desks, no complete curricula.
Another student, Batoul al-Araj, tries to study in a tent. But tents do not provide full curricula, nor protection from rain, war, or fear.
‘I studied part of fifth grade, then sixth, but now I don’t know which grade I belong to,’ she says.
A school is more than just walls
Psychologist Dr Abdullah al-Khatib says the disaster extends beyond education, striking at the psychological and social fabric of an entire generation.
‘Education is not just lessons; it is a space for building character. Without school, children are vulnerable to getting lost, dropping out, begging, child labour, even crime,’ he told our reporter.
He warned: ‘A generation without education is a generation without a future.
‘We cannot expect children who grew up under fire to carry tomorrow’s torches unless we give them a safe environment and a chance to return to life.’
He stressed the need to support educational initiatives and tent classrooms, emphasising: ‘For Gaza’s children, education is everything. Genocide kills people, but there is also a continuous, silent genocide, the genocide of awareness and minds.
‘We must act to save education from this destruction.’
The road to hope starts with ending the war
All the emergency plans announced by the Ministry of Education and UNRWA, from online learning to tent schools, collide with a harsher reality: No safety, no electricity, no stability.
Observers stress that saving education in Gaza does not require conferences or statements, it requires ending the war first, then rebuilding schools, and embracing children who have become victims twice – once to war, and once to deprivation.
- Dr Mustafa Barghouti, Secretary General of the Palestinian National Initiative, warned against US attempts to exploit the Indonesian people’s desire to assist the people of Gaza as a pretext to advance schemes aimed at forcibly displacing Palestinians from the Strip under ‘humanitarian’ cover.
Speaking at a press conference during his official visit to Indonesia, Barghouti said that Israel is committing three major war crimes in Gaza: Genocide, ethnic cleansing, and the imposition of collective punishment, including starvation.
He stressed that the most dangerous of these is the effort to expel the population of Gaza from their homeland after driving them, through bloody bombardment, into what has become the largest detention camp in modern history in the south of the Strip.
Barghouti added that the Palestinian people are facing the most serious attempt to uproot them from their land since 1948, with Israel deploying multiple tools to achieve this goal, including relentless bombardment, deliberate starvation, and depriving civilians of medicine, water and electricity.
He emphasised that so-called ‘humanitarian relocation’ to certain countries, particularly those far away, is nothing more than a malicious pretext to prevent Palestinians from returning, as part of an integrated plan to liquidate the Palestinian cause.
He called on Indonesians, both leadership and people, to take four concrete steps:
1. Reject all forms of ethnic cleansing and forced displacement, even if presented under a humanitarian guise. Ensure that any medical or relief initiatives do not become a vehicle for removing Palestinians from their homeland. Instead, channel efforts into supporting hospitals and medical institutions inside Gaza itself, as Indonesia has done before by building hospitals, and exert pressure on Israel to halt its barbaric war and open all crossings to allow the entry of medicines, medical equipment, medical teams and humanitarian aid.
2. Resist American and Israeli pressure aimed at dragging Indonesia towards normalisation, and maintain the firm and principled official and popular stance that supports the Palestinian people and rejects any ties with the occupation.
3. Advance the boycott and impose sanctions on Israel, and work with other countries to isolate it diplomatically and economically in order to stop its criminal aggression against the Palestinian people.
4. Support the steadfastness of the Palestinian people on their land across all of Palestine, particularly in the West Bank and Gaza.
Barghouti expressed gratitude to the Indonesian Foreign Ministry and civil society organisations for their warm welcome and for organising the visit.
He also visited the Palestinian Embassy in Jakarta, where he met the Ambassador of Palestine, Dr Zuhair Al-Shan, and thanked him for his reception.
Dr Barghouti was accompanied by Adnan Hmidan, a member of the International Alliance for Palestine in Britain, who described the visit as ‘extremely important at this critical time.’
Hmidan explained that the US administration has given Israel the green light to commit its crimes in Gaza amid genuine fears of pressure being exerted to advance normalisation and displacement.
The visit, coordinated with the Indonesian Foreign Ministry, included a series of meetings with officials, political, religious and social leaders, as well as public sessions with academics and solidarity activists, addressing ways to strengthen both popular and official solidarity with the Palestinian cause.
In conclusion, Barghouti stressed: ‘The Indonesian people set a remarkable example in their unwavering solidarity with Palestine, a stance that dates back to the era of President Sukarno, when Palestine was among the first states to recognise Indonesia’s independence.’
He noted that this deeply rooted solidarity forms a bulwark against Israeli and allied attempts to promote normalisation or enforce forced displacement, and remains a pillar of support for the Palestinian struggle for freedom, return and victory in their just cause.
