April 5, 2026 This year, Palestinian Child’s Day arrives in a reality both complex and unmistakably clear: the cries of Palestinian children reverberate against a wall of international silence, confronting an unrestrained machinery of killing and destruction. Yet, their will to live remains unbroken, and their resolve to learn unwavering. From tents amid the rubble, they send a message to the world: knowledge in Palestine cannot be extinguished. Over the past two years, Palestinian children have endured a systematic war of extermination targeting their very existence and their fundamental right to life. In the gravest crime against humanity in the modern world, more than 19,000 schoolchildren have been martyred, while hundreds of thousands of children in the Gaza Strip remain without shelter or security, facing hunger, disease, and repeated displacement. In this context, the Ministry of Education and Higher Education affirms that targeting schools and educational institutions will not deter it from fulfilling its mission and upholding the right to education. It will continue to operate virtual schools and temporary learning centers for children in Gaza, support students who have been forced to evacuate it, and support the displaced students in Jenin, Tulkarm and across the northern West Bank. The Ministry further underscores the exceptional challenges faced by children with disabilities, whose suffering has been compounded by the ongoing Israeli occupation aggression and settler attacks. The Ministry remains committed to advancing rehabilitation and educational programs that support their integration, provide the necessary psychosocial support, and ensure that their potential and creativity are fully realized. On Palestinian Child’s Day, the Ministry issues an urgent appeal to the international community, human rights organizations, and UN agencies, particularly UNICEF, to: - Provide immediate international protection to safeguard the children of Gaza from the threats of killing, starvation and harm. - Support the continuity and improvement of education as a fundamental, inalienable right that must be upheld under all circumstances, and contribute to the reconstruction of destroyed educational institutions. - Expose and hold accountable the practices of the occupation and the violations committed by settlers against children and students across all forums and platforms.