Since the outbreak of the Gaza war on 7 October 2023, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has conducted attacks (including numerous airstrikes) on more than 200 educational facilities, including universities, in the Gaza Strip.
By late March 2024, the United Nations recorded more than 200 Israeli attacks on schools in Gaza, with at least 53 schools totally destroyed. By July 2024, all 19 Gaza universities had suffered severe damage with 80% of university buildings destroyed, 103 academics killed, and 90,000 students enrolled in higher education no longer able to pursue their studies. In June 2024, UNOCHA stated 76% of Gaza's schools required "full reconstruction or major rehabilitation", and in August 2024, UNICEF stated 564, or 85%, of all schools in Gaza had been hit by Israeli attacks. In May 2025, an estimated 95% of school buildings had been damaged or destroyed.
The IDF states it targets schools because Palestinian militants use them for military purposes. Researchers looking into IDF's claims concluded the claims either lacked evidence, or the evidence presented was misleading. When the IDF destroyed the last university in the Gaza Strip, it destroyed it in a controlled explosion.
Attacks
Al-Maghazi UNRWA school
On 17 October 2023, an airstrike conducted by the IDF struck a United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) school in the Al-Maghazi refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. The UNRWA reported six people were killed by the airstrike and dozens more were injured, including UNRWA staff. The organization also claims that at least 4,000 people had taken refuge in the school since the start of the Gaza war.
At least five people were killed in an airstrike on the Maghazi Secondary Girls School on 27 December.
Osama bin Zaid School
On 3 November 2023, an air strike by the Israel Defense Forces bombed Osama bin Zaid School in the Al-Saftawi area, located in the northern Gaza Strip, a school belonging to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). 20 people were killed in the airstrike and dozens of other civilians were injured, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza. The Ministry of Health and UNRWA said that at least 1,000 people have taken refuge in the school since the beginning of the war.
Al-Fakhoora School
On 4 November, a UNRWA spokeswoman confirmed reports that Israel had conducted another airstrike against a UN-run school in the Jabalia refugee camp. According to the Gaza health ministry, the attack on the Al-Fakhoora school killed fifteen and wounded dozens more. Reuters reported having obtained a video of a boy crying in despair: "I was standing here when three bombings happened, I carried a body and another decapitated body with my own hands. God will take my vengeance." According to UNRWA, at least one strike hit the schoolyard, where displaced families had set up their tents. In response to the strike, Al Jazeera remarked Israel was "trying to eliminate all sources of survival for the civilian population to force the evacuation to the southern part of Gaza."
A second airstrike on the school occurred in the early hours of the morning on 18 November. Journalists on the scene reported dead bodies everywhere, suggesting the strike may have been an Israeli message to civilians to flee to the southern Gaza Strip. The second strike killed at least 50 people. A video clip surfacing following what has been described as a "massacre" depicts a man walking through several rooms where dozens of corpses can be seen, and distress can be heard throughout the school.
Al-Buraq School
On 9 November 2023, an Israeli airstrike bombed Al-Buraq School on Lababidi Street in the Al-Nasr neighbourhood, north of Gaza City, which was being used by the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNRWA) as a shelter. The people took shelter in the school were ones that their homes were destroyed. At least 50 people were killed in the attack, with multiple injuries reported. The Israeli missile fell on the school in the morning when thousands of people were sheltering inside it. The attack led to the death of at least 50 people and injuries. Among the dead were also children. The Palestinian Ministry of Health said that dozens of others were injured. The IDF claimed that Ahmed Siam, a Hamas commander who they alleged “held hostage approximately 1,000 Gazan residents at Rantisi Hospital," was killed in the strike along with other Hamas operatives.
Al-Falah School
On 17 November 2023, an Israeli airstrike bombed Al-Falah School in the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood of the city, which was being used by the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNRWA) as a shelter. At least 20 people were killed in the attack, with multiple injuries reported. The Israeli missile fell on Al-Falah School in the morning, when thousands of people were sheltering in it. Due to the communications blackout in the Gaza Strip at the time, rescue teams were not aware of the strike on the school until the following day.
Abu Hussein School
On 23 November 2023, an Israeli airstrike bombed the Abu Hussein School in Jabalia camp, which was being used by the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNRWA) as a shelter. At least 27 people were killed in the attack, with multiple injuries reported. The Israeli missile fell on Abu Hussein School in the morning when thousands of people were sheltering inside of it. The Abu Hussein School was again bombed in October 2024, reportedly killing at least 28 people, including multiple children.
An-Nazla School
The An-Nazla elementary school in northern Gaza was bombed while hundreds of refugees sheltered there. At least ten people were killed, including children. On 25 May 2024, a woman whose daughter was injured in the attack, stated, "The children were playing in the schoolyard, and suddenly we were bombed. We lived something unnatural."
Al-Sardi
On 6 June 2024, at approximately 2 am, Israeli forces airstrike hit the classrooms on the highest floor of the Al-Sardi school in the Nuseirat refugee camp with two missiles. The strike was carried after the army declared new ground assaults and airstrikes on several refugee camps in central Gaza. The munition used in the attack was of the same variety employed in the Tel al-Sultan attack, namely a GBU-39.
Haifa School
On 15 December 2023, an Israeli airstrike struck the Haifa School in the city of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, which was being used by the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNRWA) as a shelter. At least 20 people were killed in the attack, with multiple injuries reported. The aerial bombardment resulted in the death of Al Jazeera photographer Samer Abu Daqqa, and the injury of Wael Al-Dahdouh, director of Al Jazeera in Gaza.
Israa University
Israa University in Al-Zahra, south of Gaza City, was destroyed by the Israeli military in January 2024. UNOCHA reported that the IDF had been using the campus as "an ad hoc detention facility for interrogating Palestinian detainees before their transfer to an unknown location". Birzeit University accused the IDF of stealing 3,000 rare artifacts before destroying the university.
Hamama School
On 4 August 2024, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) bombed Hamama School in the neighborhood of Sheikh Radwan, Gaza City. The school had been sheltering people displaced by the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip, including women and children. Per Gaza's Civil Defense, 17 people were killed and "many others" were wounded, while the school itself was "completely destroyed". The attack was one of a number of attacks on schools during the Israeli invasion of Gaza.
The Israeli army stated that the school was being used by Hamas to plan and carry out attacks against Israeli troops, as well as to manufacture and store weapons. Hamas criticized this claim as a false pretext "for targeting defenseless civilians". The Palestinian resistance movement called the attack a continuation of Israel's "brutal war of extermination" in Gaza.
Al-Tabin School
On 10 August 2024, Israel struck the Al-Tabaeen school located in eastern Gaza City, which was hosting displaced Palestinians seeking shelter there during the Gaza war. According to Palestinian health authorities, at least 80 Palestinians were killed and 47 others were injured, with several victims being trapped in the school as the fire spread. The IDF said that these numbers were inflated.
At around 4:40 during Fajr morning prayers in the Al-Tabaeen school, which was being used to house roughly 6,000 refugees and internally displaced Palestinian citizens, three rockets struck the building, causing the structure to collapse. Consequently, a fire broke out that caused several more casualties. Attempts by rescue workers and other civilians to reduce the spread of the fire and save the lives of trapped civilians were seriously impeded due to the Israeli military cutting off the region's water supply.
It was the fifth attack on a school in a week and the UN Human Rights Office said it was "horrified by the unfolding pattern" of attacks on schools. An Al Jazeera investigation found that the bombing was deliberately performed to result in maximum casualties. The IDF said that the school "contained 31 Hamas and PIJ terrorists" and was being used as a "Hamas headquarters". Additionally they stated that they had taken steps to prevent harm to civilians. Analysing the IDF's official explanations, the Israeli investigative journalist Meron Rapoport said that "the army bombed a populated shelter knowing full well the deadly repercussions its assault would inflict". A CNN weapons expert identified shrapnel evident in footage from the aftermath of the attack as coming from a GBU-39 manufactured by the US-based Boeing.
Al-Jawni School
On 11 September 2024, the Israel Defense Forces bombed the UN-run Al-Jawni school in the Nuseirat refugee camp of central Gaza. The school had been sheltering people displaced by the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip, including women and children. Per rescuers, 18 people were killed and more than 44 others were wounded. Among the killed were six United Nations workers, including the manager of the UNRWA shelter. This made it the highest death toll for UN staff in any single incident of the Gaza war and raising the number of UNRWA staff killed since the beginning of the war to 220. The IDF said that at least nine of the people killed were Hamas operatives. The attack was one of a number of attacks on schools during the Israeli invasion of Gaza and the fifth bombing of the Al-Jawni School since October 2023.
Shadia Abu Ghazala School Massacre
In December 2023 reports emerged of a massacre of Palestinians, including women, children and babies, by Israeli forces in the Shadia Abu Ghazala School, west of Jabalia refugee camp in Al-Faluja, the northern part of the Gaza Strip. The massacre reportedly occurred in early December. The school had been used as a shelter and had been surrounded by the IDF for several days. Video and photo footage showed bodies piled up in the school and damage to the school's interiors. Survivors of the massacre recounted women, children and babies being "killed execution-style" by Israeli troops as they were sheltering in the school. Reports say at least 7 and up to 15 bullet-ridden bodies were found.
Fahmi al-Jarjawi School Massacre
On 25 May 2025, an Israeli airstrike killed at least 36 people, including 18 children and six women and injured at least 55 others in the Fahmi Al-Jarjawi School in al-Daraj neighbourhood in Gaza City.
Others
2023
On 3 December 2023, the Israeli Air Force bombed the Holy Family school in Gaza City.
2024
In July 2024, Israeli airstrikes hit a number of schools, leading the UNRWA spokesperson Juliette Touma to state attacks on schools had become "almost a daily occurrence". On 7 July 2024, an Israeli attack on the Al-Jaouni school killed at least 16 Palestinians and injured 50, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. The Al-Jawni school was hit by an Israeli strike that killed 16 people, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. The following day, the Holy Family school in Gaza City was hit by a strike, the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem stated the school was "a place of refuge for hundreds of civilians". On 14 July 2024, an Israeli strike on the Abu Oraiban School killed 22 people and wounded 100, per the Gaza Health Ministry. On 16 July 2024, an Israeli airstrike on the al-Razi school in the Nuseirat refugee camp reportedly killed at least 42 people, becoming the sixth UN school to be bombed in a ten-day period. On 17 July 2024, UNRWA spokesperson Juliette Touma stated eight schools had been hit in the prior two weeks. On 27 July, at least 30 people were killed by an Israeli airstrike on a Deir al-Balah school.