Borrowing from existing definitions, Scientists for Palestine defines Scholasticide as

The systematic or deliberate destruction of the education system of a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group, through the arrest, detention, maiming or killing of teachers, students, and staff, and the destruction of educational infrastructure or resources. [1][2]

The word was first coined by the Palestinian professor Karma Nabulsi, an expert on the laws of war at Oxford University, in the context of the Israeli assault on Gaza in 2009 and the wider pattern of Israeli colonial attacks on Palestinian scholars, students, and educational institutions. The term combined the Latin prefix ‘schola,’ meaning school, with the Latin suffix ‘cide,’ meaning to kill. [3]

References:

[1] https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/04/un-experts-deeply-concerned-over-scholasticide-gaza  (Accessed 12 Sep 2025)
[2] https://sawtuna.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Palestine-Israels-Scholasticide-in-Gaza-1.pdf  (Accessed 12 Sep 2025)
[3] https://www.aa.com.tr/en/education/-scholasticide-how-israel-is-systematically-destroying-palestinian-education-in-gaza/3135127#  (Accessed 25 Sep 2025)

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Case studies in scholasticide:

An attack on Birzeit University
Written by Shaina

Birzeit University in the West Bank, Palestine, has endured dozens of attacks from the Israeli military. An example is from Sep. 22, 2025, when several university buildings, including the Faculty of Art, Music and Design, the Naseeb Azeez Shaheen Auditorium, and the Student Council office were raided and campus security personnel were assaulted. Birzeit’s Right to Education campaign wrote following the raid: “The repeated raids on Birzeit, like the destruction of universities in Gaza, are calculated attempts to crush academic freedom, break the spirit of our students and faculty, and erase the foundations of Palestinian intellectual and cultural life. Just days ago, the Israeli occupation declared the Islamic University of Gaza “no longer exists” after destroying its last standing campus. Such acts go far beyond military oppression, they form the core of scholasticide, the deliberate destruction of education as a means to deny Palestinians the ability to rebuild their future and pursue justice and liberation through knowledge. These systematic violations are in clear breach of international law, which obliges an occupying power to protect educational institutions. Instead, Israel has turned universities into targets of war.”

Palestinian physicist Qasem Waleed writes from Gaza
Written by Shaina

Qasem Waleed, a Palestinian physicist in Gaza, is enduring unfathomable hardships under genocide and scholasticide. He has been writing about his experiences, often with a lens on physics. In May 2024, he wrote how several of his mentors, esteemed professors of physics, have been killed by Israeli air strikes and reflected on the types of questions he asks as a physicist have changed since the start of the genocide: “Physics taught me how to accurately calculate the velocity of a rocket as it hits the ground. But it didn’t teach me how to calculate the fallout if that rocket targeted my house…Why do I feel I have aged 20 years since October 2023, when, on earth, time dilation cannot be that significant?… Life is different now that Israel has killed my professors. Knowledge feels trapped behind unopenable gates. My professors taught me the physics of life. Israel, on the other hand, is forcing me to learn the physics of death.” He has also written a series for Al Jazeera, again using physics analogies to describe how he feels trapped under occupation: “In this box in Gaza, any path I take would eventually lead to my death. Like Schrodinger’s cat, I am locked in a box that will eventually kill me… Seemingly, my existence has now become identified by the superposition of the states of being simultaneously alive and dead. I am alive in a lifeless life, and all the possible paths ahead lead to my death.” Prior to the start of the genocide, he would contemplate physics with his professors, but under scholasticide, he mourns them and faces a daily struggle for survival.