Gaza’s education system has suffered significantly since Israel’s bombardment and assault on the strip began. Last month, Israel blew up Gaza’s last standing university, Al-Israa University.
In the past four months, all or parts of Gaza’s 12 universities have been bombed and mostly destroyed.
Approximately 378 schools have been destroyed or damaged. The Palestinian Ministry of Education has reported the deaths of over 4,327 students, 231 teachers and 94 professors.
Numerous cultural heritage sites, including libraries, archives and museums, have also been destroyed, damaged and plundered.
But the assault on Palestinian educational and cultural institutions did not begin in response to the Oct. 7 attack. Israel has a long record of targeted attacks on Palestinian institutions that produce knowledge and culture. That history includes targeting and assassinating Palestinian intellectuals, cultural producers and political figures.
The destruction of education systems and buildings is known as “scholasticide,” a term first coined by Oxford professor Karma Nabulsi during the 2008-2009 Israeli assault on Gaza. Scholasticide describes the systemic destruction of Palestinian education within the context of Israel’s decades-long settler colonization and occupation of Palestine.
Recently, a group of scholars working under the name Scholars Against the War on Palestine broadened the definition to include a more comprehensive picture of what is happening during the current war. They outline the intimate relationship between scholasticide and genocide.
They say scholasticide includes the intentional........