When Education and Refuge Become Targets: The IDF’s Assault on Gaza’s Schools and Camps

Image Credit, Hosny Salah

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) have once again unleashed devastating attacks on Gaza, targeting two more schools and two refugee camps. The mounting death toll and countless injuries paint a horrific scene of atrocity, a grim reflection of a conflict that spares neither the young nor the old, the vulnerable nor the innocent. The IDF’s justification for these attacks is their claim that they are targeting members of Hamas, whom they accuse of using these civilian spaces as shields. Yet, to those who witness the carnage, these justifications ring hollow. The reality on the ground shows a relentless assault on spaces meant to protect and nurture, not destroy.

Children’s lives are being lost in classrooms, where they should be learning and playing, not cowering in fear. Churches and mosques, meant to be sanctuaries of peace, are reduced to rubble. And all the while, the IDF continues its onslaught, seemingly with no regard for the sanctity of human life. Former CIA operatives have spoken out, stating that the IDF’s tactics suggest they will kill anyone and everyone to achieve their aims. These chilling words seem to echo in the ruins of Gaza, where no building, no person, appears to be off-limits.

As the bombs fall and the buildings crumble, the question arises: what is left? Where do these families, already displaced and shattered, go when their schools, their places of worship, and their homes are nothing more than dust? With every structure destroyed, with every life lost, the future becomes bleaker. There is no refuge when the very camps meant to shelter the displaced are targeted. The global community, led by the United States, must confront these brutal realities. For too long, the narrative has been that Israel has the right to defend itself, but this defence cannot come at the expense of children’s lives. This cannot be the price paid for security.

The silence of the Biden administration is deafening. Day after day, officials echo the same lines, supporting Israel’s right to self-defence, while turning a blind eye to the humanitarian disaster unfolding. Where is the condemnation for the bombing of schools? Where is the outcry against the killing of civilians? It is a grotesque paradox: a nation’s right to defend itself is invoked to justify actions that obliterate the very fabric of another people’s existence. The world cannot remain neutral in the face of such horror.

This is not just another casualty count in a long-standing conflict; it is a moral crisis. The IDF has bombed not only schools but also hospitals, media offices, and countless homes. Humanitarian organizations have lost staff members, journalists have been silenced, and entire communities have been wiped out. The targeting of civilian infrastructure, especially spaces crucial to education, healthcare, and free speech, should be unequivocally condemned. But the condemnation is absent, replaced by platitudes and hollow justifications.

The assault on the press is particularly alarming. In a world where information is a powerful weapon, the destruction of media offices is not just about silencing a story; it is about erasing the truth. These are not isolated incidents; they are part of a broader pattern of aggression that seeks to suppress any narrative that challenges the official line. Yet, the truth persists in the cries of the grieving, in the images of devastated neighborhoods, and in the stories of those who survive only to witness more suffering and family members being burnt alive.

The international community, and especially the United States, must do more than offer tepid statements of concern. They must confront the impunity with which Israel acts and recognize the human cost of these actions. The lives lost in Gaza are not collateral damage; they are the consequence of a conflict that has been allowed to escalate without restraint. The IDF must be held accountable, not just for the sake of justice, but for the sake of humanity. This is not a call for bias; it is a call for truth. And the truth is that the bombing of children, schools, and refugee camps is an abomination that cannot be defended.