UN rapporteurs warn of 'scholasticide,' erasure of truth in Gaza

UN special rapporteurs on Thursday warned of the systematic destruction of education and the media in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. During a briefing by the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People at UN headquarters in New York, Farida Shaheed, the rapporteur on the right to education, said the world continues to witness "scholasticide, the systemic and systematic obliteration of education, which has been horrendous in Gaza."

She said that "98% of the schools and all 13 universities have been destroyed," adding, "Almost 21,000 Palestinian students have been killed. A classroom of children every day during the war on Gaza." Saying that the destruction aims to uproot Palestinian society, Shaheed said: "Scholasticide is multigenerational; it aims to dismantle the very foundation of Palestinian society, erase their history and destroy a sense of collective self."

She said 13 libraries, the central archives of Gaza holding 150 years of history, 195 heritage sites, 227 mosques and at least three churches were also destroyed or targeted. In the occupied West Bank, Shaheed said, "Last September, 10 out of 48 schools were demolished in East Jerusalem." She noted that some schools had to close after failing to obtain licenses, which often depend on curriculum changes that delete references to Palestinian history and culture.

"In the first half of the year, there were 224 security incidents, which affected 152 schools, 20,450 students, and at least 859 educational personnel," she said. "Settler violence has also displaced at least 1,700 children from school." Francesca Albanese, the rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, addressed the briefing virtually and said her latest report examines the role of the media.

"Since October 2023, Israel has killed nearly 300 journalists and media workers in Gaza," she said. She said when witnesses are silenced, "the crime is not only committed; it is concealed, and impunity becomes part of the plan." Albanese said more than 74,500 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, which “has the highest number of child amputees per capita in the world.” Pointing to the ceasefire announced last year, she said, "I wish I could tell you the so-called ceasefire had brought relief.

It has not," she said, adding that more than 1,500 Palestinians have been killed since it was announced. Albanese said thousands of Palestinians were forcibly displaced from Hebron in the West Bank after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to destroy the neighborhood of those behind the Oct. 23 checkpoint attacks. "Gaza might be the breaking point, not because of the United Nations' lack of tools, but because its members chose not to use them," she said.

"It is not too late." Urging states to act, she said: "Suspend arms transfer and trade that sustain unlawful occupation and genocide. Fund and protect UNRWA. Protect the journalists." "History will ask what each of us did. Let our answer not be that we just watched," she added.