‘Assault On Children’: UN Experts Condemn Renewed Attacks On UNRWA Schools In Gaza And East Jerusalem

Geneva, 20 May 2025

Attacks on schools are an assault on children, UN experts said today, condemning the latest attacks on UNRWA schools in Gaza and the storming and forcible closure of UN schools in Jerusalem by Israeli occupation forces.

“These attacks are also an assault on the right to safe education and a blatant violation of international law, all the more in the context of an unlawful occupation,” the experts said.

On 7 May, Israeli forces reportedly struck an UNRWA school sheltering 2,000 displaced Palestinians in Gaza twice in a single day, killing at least 30 civilians, including women and children. Nearly three-quarters of all school buildings in Gaza have been directly hit since October 2023, with around one third of UNRWA schools among them. According to UN satellite-based assessments, 95 per cent of Gaza’s schools have sustained damage, rendering the vast majority unusable.

“This destruction demonstrates the devastating, lasting impact on a generation of Palestinian children’s learning,” the experts said. Their learning has already been cut-off for more than 19 months and once hostilities cease, they will have no schools to return to. Girls are disproportionately affected by such actions and the long-term consequences for girls’ education, health, and empowerment are especially dire. In addition, leaving all the children exposed to armed eviction with irreversible trauma, that takes years of mental and psychosocial support and is inaccessible to them.

At least 300 UN personnel, mostly UNRWA aid workers, have been killed since the escalation began in October 2023.

In East Jerusalem, on 8 May, heavily armed Israeli forces stormed three UNRWA schools in Shu’fat refugee camp while classes were in session, violently evicting over 550 Palestinian children, some as young as six, from their classrooms. One UNRWA staff member was detained, and by the end of the day all six UNRWA schools in East Jerusalem had been evacuated.

“Israel has no authority to carry out these actions, when the International Court of Justice has determined that Israel is under an obligation to dismantle its occupation,” the experts said. “In the meantime, it is bound by international humanitarian law, which protects schools against direct attacks, especially as there were no hostilities in the area that would justify an evacuation.”

“As the schools stormed were UN premises, the harassment of staff and forcible removal of children from schools by Israeli soldiers also constitute a breach of the inviolability of UN facilities and violate the right to education,” they said.

"Targeted attacks against civilians and civilian objects are strictly prohibited under international humanitarian law and constitute war crimes. In the current context, such actions may also amount to collective punishment."

The experts emphasised that Israel’s obligation to end its occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is mandatory under international law, rooted in non-derogable norms like the right to self-determination and the ban on acquiring territory by force. Israel is required to withdraw its troops, dismantle its settlements, provide full reparations to Palestinian victims and facilitate the return of displaced people and humanitarian aid and rehabilitation.

“As a UN Member State, Israel must respect international humanitarian and human rights law,” the experts said. “Education is never a target. The international community must act to ensure respect and protection of the right to life and to education of Palestinian children living under occupation and accountability for violations.”

*The experts: Farida Shaheed, Special Rapporteur on the right to education, Francesca Albanese, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, Cecilia M. Bailliet, Independent Expert on human rights and international solidarity, Balakrishnan Rajagopal, Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing, George Katrougalos, Independent expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order, Ashwini K.P., Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, Morris Tidball-Binz, Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Nicolas Levrat, Special Rapporteur on minority issues, Irene Khan, Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, Tlaleng Mofokeng, Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, Surya Deva, Special Rapporteur on the right to development, Michael Fakhri, Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Heba Hagrass, Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities, Gina Romero, Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, Mary Lawlor, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Siobhán Mullally, Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children, Reem Alsalem, Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, its causes and consequences and Dorothy Estrada Tanck (Chair), Laura Nyirinkindi (Vice-Chair), Claudia Flores, Ivana Krstić, and Haina Lu, Working group on discrimination against women and girls.

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