Topologies of scholasticide in Gaza: education in spaces of elimination

Abstract

The Israeli military aggression against Gaza has led to unprecedented destruction. Since October 2023, Israel has cut off water, fuel, and electricity, prevented humanitarian aid and destroyed vital facilities and infrastructure, turning the Gaza Strip into a death space marked by horror and mass devastation. The educational sector has suffered significantly, with thousands of students, teachers and professors killed or injured and 60% of educational facilities destroyed, including all 12 universities. In this editorial, we trace the pattern of systematic attacks on Palestinian education by the Israeli settler state in and beyond the Gaza Strip. We contextualise resilience initiatives that strive to conceive a sense of normalcy during the direst conditions. We acknowledge the role stories of such initiatives can have in lifting morale and resisting oppression. Yet, we draw attention to the harm the glorification of such initiatives may have in skewing the image of hardship that most Gazans face under the most disastrous of circumstances. Instead, we urgently call on the global community to urgently respond to end the genocidal violence, support the rebuilding of Gaza and restore the right to life and education for its people.