Gaza is the most dangerous place on Earth for a child.

In the two years since the war began inside the Strip, 64,000 children have been killed or maimed, according to Unicef. Tens of thousands have been injured and amputated. An entire generation is traumatised. And one of the most grievous crimes is that those who managed to survive have been deprived of an education.

According to the humanitarian information portal ReliefWeb, satellite-based assessments by the Education Cluster/UNRWA show that about 97 per cent of schools sustained damage, and 76.6 per cent of all school buildings were “direct hits” since October 7, 2023. Human Rights Watch reported that “hundreds of strikes on schools sheltering displaced Palestinians killed large numbers of civilians”. These strikes have been called unlawful; even so, Israel has continued to target schools, libraries and universities.

Education is a human right, along with the rights to life, liberty and security of person. Under both international humanitarian law and international human rights law, the education of children – even during armed conflict – must be protected.

There is overwhelming evidence showing that Gaza’s schools have been hit on an extraordinary scale: 660,000 children have been out of school for nearly three years. Nearly 400 schools have been destroyed. More than 800 teachers and staff have been killed. Thousands more are displaced, injured, or buried under rubble.

Displaced Palestinian girls stand outside a tent in Gaza city. Reuters

Universities are crushed: 12 of Gaza’s higher learning institutions have been destroyed, leaving students stranded. Books, papers and research are burnt and lost. Unesco says that 88,000 higher education students were forced to put their studies on hold. Coding academies like Gaza Sky Geeks, which I last visited in 2022, are now rubble.

Even before October 7, 2023, the blockade imposed on the enclave since 2007 was devastating. Teaching materials and computer parts were often not allowed to pass through checkpoints. Students invited to conferences, workshops or to study abroad were prohibited from leaving the Strip. I heard case after painful case of brilliant students who won exclusive scholarships in the UK or Europe – or coveted places at American Ivy League universities – but who were refused permits to travel to Jerusalem to obtain the visas they needed to enter their new host country.

Despite Israel’s attempts to limit Gaza’s development, it had one of the highest literacy rates in the Arab world. In 2011, Unesco data pointed to a literacy rate of nearly 96 per cent. I was always surprised by the level of English my colleagues and friends in Gaza had mastered – without once having ever left the Strip, and even though it was never their first language. They watched YouTube, they mastered Duolingo, they devoured the books or magazines we brought inside; they read anything they could online. I have never seen a people so hungry for knowledge.

Part of Israel’s destruction of Gaza is not just about levelling buildings where it unjustly claims Hamas is hiding

UNRWA, which administered many of the schools, has been demonised by Israel with unfounded claims that the organisation was linked to Hamas.