“Palestinian children and youth stand dispossessed of the fundamental right to learn”, Special Rapporteur Farida Shaheed at the UN Palestine Committee Briefing on “Human Dignity Under Strain”

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Statement by Ms. Farida Shaheed

United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to education

at a briefing entitled

“Human Dignity Under Strain: The Humanitarian and Human Rights Consequences in the Occupied Palestinian Territory”

organized by the UN Palestinian Rights Committee

New York, 29 October 2026

Mme. Chair, excellencies & distinguished delegates, I’m very pleased to have this opportunity to share some key issues regarding education in the OPT.

Education is an inalienable human right regardless of circumstances, location or identity. Today, the scale of destruction, displacement, school closures, and restrictions on movement mean Palestinian children and youth stand dispossessed of the fundamental right to learn, think and express their opinion freely.

The right to education – a gateway to so many other rights – is protected under both international human rights and international humanitarian law, and remains fully applicable during armed conflict. Schools as civilian objects; students and staff as civilians are expressly protected. And Israel has obligations under international law to ensure this right in the OPT.

Instead we have scholasticide, the systematic and systemic obliteration of education. This has been horrendous in Gaza: 98% of schools & all 13 universities destroyed. The arrests, detention and killing of teachers, students and staff is appalling: Almost 21,000Palestinian students have been killed– a classroom of children every day of the war in Gaza; at least 173 have been killed in the West Bank; almost 170,000 injured. More than 1000teachers, lecturers, and administrative staff members killed across both territories, (including over 800 school staff and 240 university employees in Gaza alone). Of the 394 UNRWA staff killed in Gaza, 259 were providing or supporting education.

And it hasn’t ended: since the so-called ‘ceasefire’, at least one child has been killed every day; hundreds wounded. Violence continues and takes on new forms: Water and food have been weaponized. Virtually all under-five children in Gaza are malnourished – nearly one in three go without food for 24 hours or more. In young children this leads to wasting and stunting, causing irreparable physical and cognitive impairments, impacting an entire generation. Reduced funds for the WFP will deprive half a million more people of essential food.

The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry investigating attacks on educational facilities, religious and cultural sites concluded that Israeli attacks amount to war crimes and the crime against humanity of extermination.

Scholasticide is multi-generational. It aims to dismantle the very foundation of Palestinian society, erase their history and destroy a sense of collective self. This is why in addition to the schools and universities, 13 public libraries, the Central Archives of Gaza, containing 150 years of history, as well as 195 heritage sites, 227 mosques, at least three churches and other places with symbolic value have been destroyed.

When education is destroyed, so too are hopes and dreams. Education is not just about accumulating skills, it’s a means of developing critical thinking and a sense of who you are. In armed conflict it is a lifeline and provides a sense of normalcy in an otherwise bewildering chaotic and painful situation.

Over 830,000 children in the West Bank & East Jerusalem have returned to school amidst security threats: Students I have spoken with have told me “We live in fear from one day to the next – at all times of the day” – fear of arrests, beatings, and imprisonment. Last September 10 out of 48 schools were demolished in East Jerusalem. Some schools were closed or had to close as they failed to get licenses, often conditional to ‘curriculum correction’ – meaning deleting references to Palestinian history and culture. Students studying the Palestinian curricula say “We’re scared to take our school books with us” because children and fathers are fined for having Palestinian books especially post 2023. And, unique to Jerusalem is students placed under house arrest.

In the West Bank, the presence of the military near schools and at checkpoints is often accompanied by intimidation or denial of access. This heightens distress and insecurity and stops students, teachers, and staff from reaching schools. In the first half of this year, 224 security incidents affected 152 schools, 20,450 students and 859 education personnel, 21% of incidents were due to settler violence which continues to spiral with the complicity of Israeli security forces. Settler violence has displaced more than 1,700 Palestinian children.

Military incursions into West Bank educational facilities, including UNRWA schools disrupt learning and expose children as young as six, to violence, tear gas, injury, and lasting trauma.

Continued military operations prevent students from Jenin and Nur Shams camps in the Northern West Bank returning to regular schools.

The physical and psychological damage is overwhelming in Gaza – home to the highest number of per capita child amputees in the world. They require physical rehabilitation and providing children with appropriate prosthetics is a continuous multi-year painful process as prosthetics must be readjusted to the child’s growing body.

The trauma of bombs, bereavements, violence and fear will plague children throughout their lives. In Gaza, the trauma includes amputations without anesthesia, seeing things “no child should see’ as one Palestinian father said: dismembered limbs and decomposing bodies. Students tell me “Our childhood has been stolen”. On turning 15, a girl said she felt she had turned 40, because she had to look after the injured and find water and food for herself and her family to survive. So, I’m deeply touched by pictures of children climbing over rubble determined to get to school despite all the obstacles.

Students from Gaza wanting to study abroad face a hugely complex restrictive, multi-layered process for exit permits controlled by the Israeli military (Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories). Many with international admissions and scholarships cannot proceed abroad. Visas too are an issue – for example, this month we saw that 55 Gazan scholars admitted in Irish universities were denied visas– only a very few managed to go.

Finally, I must stress that the role of UNWRA is critical. UNWRA reaches over 105,000 children in Temporary Learning Spaces and 275,000 remotely. More than 1.1 million children in Gaza need mental health and psychosocial support; UNWRA has provided this to more than half a million; and it is supporting some 10,000 unaccompanied, separated & vulnerable children, including 3000+ children with disabilities.

But drone strikes and gunfire in or near UNWRA learning spaces carried out in tents and windowless buildings have injured children and parents. This has increased insecurity of learners, teachers and staff, so that an increasing number of parents no longer feel it is safe to send their children to these spaces.

The International Community has a responsibility to end the scholasticide, restore childhoods & ensure the right to education in the OPT

• Securing a lasting end to hostilities is vital. The longer children are out of school, the more difficult it is to catch up, and the higher the risks of child labour, early marriages, and recruitment by armed groups.
• Special Rapporteurs have repeatedly pointed out the numerous ways in which Israel is violating both international Human Rights and Humanitarian laws. States should consider measures to have Israel comply with international law
• The right to education must be protected as a lifeline, rebuilding supported, psychosocial support ensured for both educators and learners, prioritising the most vulnerable
• Funding must be robust, predictable, flexible, and multi-year
• UNRWA’s critical role must be preserved, legal bans and restrictions overturned
• Coordinated, sustainable recovery needs strengthened Regional partnerships and national systems, bringing together UNRWA, Ministries of Education, Palestinian organizations, UN partners, donors and communities.

We all need to work together to overcome the immense challenges.

Thank you.

Related content:

• 431st Committee Meeting “Human Dignity Under Strain: The Humanitarian and Human Rights Consequences in the Occupied Palestinian Territory” – Question of Palestine
• “The destruction of truth has become part of the destruction of a people”, statement by Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese, UN Palestine Committee Briefing on “Human Dignity Under Strain” – Question of Palestine
• The right to development would require that the Palestinian people have “active, free and meaningful” participation, Statement by Special Rapporte Surya Deva, UN Palestine Committee Briefing on “Human Dignity Under Strain” – Question of Palestine
• UN Inquiry Chair on Gaza and the West Bank: “State-Sanctioned Settler Crimes”
• Press Release of the UN Palestine Committee: UN Experts Sound Alarm over Continuing Devastation in Gaza and the West Bank – Question of Palestine