HRW: Israeli strikes on Gaza schools show No Safe Place as death toll rises
Shafaq News – Gaza
Israeli strikes on schools sheltering displaced Palestinians in Gaza illustrate “the absence of any safe place” for civilians, Human Rights Watch (HRW) warned on Thursday, as the death toll from daily attacks continues to climb in the besieged enclave.
According to the rights group, more than 500 school buildings have been struck since the war began in October 2023—many of them sheltering families—resulting in widespread destruction of educational infrastructure. HRW described the strikes as part of an ongoing Israeli offensive that is displacing hundreds of thousands, demolishing Gaza’s remaining civilian structures, and deepening an already catastrophic humanitarian crisis.
“These attacks have denied civilians safe access to shelter,” the group stated, adding that damage to Gaza’s education sector will have long-term consequences, as repairing and rebuilding schools requires extensive resources and time.
The UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) reported that around one million displaced Palestinians have sought shelter in school facilities. As of July 18, at least 836 people sheltering in these schools had been killed and 2,527 injured.
HRW urged governments—including the United States, which has reportedly supplied arms used in strikes deemed unlawful—to impose an arms embargo on Israel and take steps to enforce the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
“Israeli strikes on schools sheltering displaced families provide a window into the widespread carnage that Israeli forces have carried out in Gaza,” Gerry Simpson, associate crisis and conflict director at HRW, said. “Other governments should not tolerate this horrendous slaughter of Palestinian civilians merely seeking safety.”
The latest damage assessment by the Occupied Palestinian Territory Education found that 97 percent of school buildings in Gaza—547 out of 564—have sustained some level of damage. Of those, 518 were “directly hit” and now require “full reconstruction or major rehabilitation work to be functional again.”
Meanwhile, Hospitals in Gaza confirmed that 22 people were killed in Israeli airstrikes on multiple areas of the Strip since dawn. The Gaza Ministry of Health reported that the death toll since October 7, 2023, has reached 61,158, with 151,442 injuries.
Palestinian media highlighted the worsening conditions linked to hunger. The death of infant Mohammad Zakaria Asfour at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis was attributed to a lack of baby formula, bringing the total number of documented hunger-related deaths to 1,655, with over 11,800 people wounded while trying to access food.
أمام الصمت المدوي للعالم.. وفاة الطفل الرضيع محمد زكريا عصفور في مجمع ناصر الطبي بخانيونس، نتيجة عدم توفر الحليب والغذاء في ظل الحصار والحرب.#غزه_تموت_جوعاً pic.twitter.com/MRo4L5vXPf
— المركز الفلسطيني للإعلام (@PalinfoAr) August 7, 2025
