Among the over 34,000 people that are known to have been killed by Israel’s war on Gaza since October 7, 2023, UNICEF spokesman, James Elder, points to the 14,000 children among the dead, calling for an “immediate ceasefire.” The death toll of children in Gaza surpasses the number of children killed globally in the last four years, 2019-2022. On April 1, 2024, Israeli air strikes killed seven World Central Kitchen personnel, which provides desperately needed food assistance in Gaza. Recent analysis has shown a risk of famine is imminent for the 2.2 million people of Gaza, with many children suffering from malnutrition. Save the Children confirmed, as of April 1, 2024, that 27 children have already died due to starvation and disease. The organization warned that children in Gaza are not getting the food and medical care they need to survive, with food being blocked at every turn and the health system obliterated. 

The destruction of Gaza’s education system has garnered less attention than that of access to food, water, electricity, and health care. Yet, the consequences for Palestinian children and future generations are critical; education is the heart of society. A new assessment of school damages in the Gaza Strip conducted by the Global Education Cluster, concludes that  approximately 378 schools have been destroyed or damaged, leaving more than 620,000 students out of schools. At least 67 per cent of schools in Gaza will either need full reconstruction or major rehabilitation work to become functional again. In January 2024, the Israeli military blew up Gaza’s last standing university, Al-Israa University. Since October 2023, all or parts of Gaza’s 12 universities have been bombed and mostly destroyed, rendering some 90,000 Palestinian students unable to continue their university education.  

The Palestinian Ministry of Education has reported the deaths of over 4,327 students, 231 teachers and 94 professors. Eight dedicated libraries and four university libraries have also been damaged or destroyed. All of this, Scholars Against the War on Palestine (SAWP) says, fits the description of “scholasticide,” a first coined by Karma Nabulsi, a Palestinian professor at Oxford University, and an expert on the laws of war. He said Israel’s objective is to make the territory uninhabitable, not just “by killing the person, but also killing the knowledge that they contain within them.” Many among those killed since October 7th have been prominent university leaders, teachers, educators, and public intellectuals deeply dedicated to keeping alive