GCE Statement on Gaza
As of 27 February, 29,878 Palestinians are reported killed and 70,215 injured, the vast majority of whom have been women and children.
Of Gaza's 2.2 million people, more than 1.9 million have been displaced, including many who have fled multiple times. There are currently 1.5 million Palestinians sheltering in Rafah, 610,000 of whom are children, who have nowhere else to go.
Approximately 378 schools have been destroyed or damaged. The Palestinian Ministry of Education has reported the deaths of over 4,327 students, 231 teachers and 94 professors. All or parts of Gaza’s 12 universities have been bombed and mostly destroyed.
Thousands of children have become orphans and hundreds of thousands of children now need mental health support.
GCE resolves to:
- Call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
- Demand the immediate and full restoration of access to food, water, electricity and medicines to the citizens of Gaza.
- Insist that donors urgently reinstate funding for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA).
- Require all parties to adhere to the principle that education institutions should be a protected space for students to learn, and fulfil their potential, even during war.
- Support the right of Palestinians to immediately return to Northern Gaza, not least for the children and young people who need to return to their schools and colleges to access their right to education.
Further resolutions
- For GCE to issue a letter to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to encourage him to consider, fully and promptly, whether war crimes and/or crimes against humanity have been committed during the war.
- To undertake a full consultation with member organisations to develop a comprehensive policy response to the war in Gaza and the recovery.
GCE resolves to include the situation in Gaza within our resources for GAWE 2024.
