The ongoing conflict in Gaza has reached unprecedented levels of devastation in 2025, with Israeli strikes targeting civilian shelters, including schools, that have become sanctuaries for displaced Palestinians. This analysis examines the human rights implications of these attacks, drawing on recent evidence that these strikes are part of a deliberate military strategy, and situates them within the broader context of systemic violations against the people of Gaza.
Targeting of Civilian Shelters: A Grave Violation of International Law
Schools and other civilian facilities in Gaza have long served as shelters for thousands of Palestinians displaced by repeated military assaults. The deliberate Israeli strikes on these shelters represent a flagrant breach of international humanitarian law, which mandates the protection of civilians and civilian objects during armed conflict.
Between March and May 2025, at least 16 schools used as shelters were bombed, resulting in over 217 deaths and hundreds of injuries, many of them women and children. For example, on May 26, 2025, a single strike on a Gaza school shelter killed 52 people, including 36 inside the building. Such attacks are not isolated incidents but part of a pattern of targeting civilian infrastructure, which the Israeli military justifies by alleging militant presence within these areas. However, the scale and frequency of these strikes strongly suggest a strategy that disregards civilian life.
The United Nations and human rights organizations have condemned these actions, emphasizing that using explosive weapons with wide-area effects in densely populated areas inevitably causes indiscriminate harm and is likely unlawful under the principles of distinction and proportionality. The repeated destruction of shelters exacerbates the humanitarian crisis, forcing Palestinians into ever smaller and more precarious space.
Humanitarian Catastrophe: Blockades, Displacement, and Denial of Aid
The strikes on shelters occur against the backdrop of an Israeli-imposed blockade that has lasted over 75 days, severely restricting the entry of food, fuel, medical supplies, and humanitarian aid into Gaza. This blockade has created conditions described by UN experts and human rights organizations as tantamount to collective punishment, starvation, and even acts of genocide.
The Israeli government’s plan to forcibly displace Gaza’s entire population into a confined “humanitarian area” while demolishing remaining infrastructure signals an intent to ethnically cleanse the territory. This plan, coupled with the blockade and ongoing bombardments, has pushed Gaza’s 2 million residents into extreme deprivation, with widespread hunger, disease, and psychological trauma.
The UN Human Rights Office reports that since March 2025, 229 attacks on residential buildings and 91 on internally displaced persons’ tents have been recorded, many resulting in fatalities. The destruction of homes and shelters leaves civilians with no safe refuge, compounding their vulnerability and suffering.
Systematic Violations and Possible Genocidal Intent
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have documented that Israeli actions in Gaza meet the criteria of crimes against humanity and genocide. These include deliberate killings, infliction of serious bodily and mental harm, and the imposition of living conditions calculated to bring about the physical destruction of the Palestinian population.
The repeated targeting of civilian infrastructure, the use of starvation as a weapon, and the forced displacement of populations are not random acts of war but appear to be part of a systematic campaign to destroy Palestinian society in Gaza. The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Israeli officials for war crimes and crimes against humanity related to these actions.
The Impact on Civilian Life and Rights
The human cost of these violations is staggering. Tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed or wounded since hostilities escalated in late 2023, with children and women constituting the majority of victims. The destruction of schools, hospitals, and homes has shattered Gaza’s social fabric and infrastructure.
Education has been severely disrupted, with 76% of schools requiring major repairs or reconstruction and universities largely incapacitated. The psychological toll on survivors, especially children, is profound, with widespread trauma and mental health crises emerging amid the ongoing violence and uncertainty.
The right to adequate housing, education, health, and life itself is under constant threat. The forced displacement into overcrowded and under-resourced areas violates Palestinians’ right to dignity and security, further entrenching cycles of poverty and despair.
International Legal Obligations and the Need for Accountability
Under international law, Israel, as the occupying power, is obligated to protect the civilian population and ensure access to humanitarian aid. The persistent targeting of civilian shelters and infrastructure, the blockade, and the forced displacement violate these obligations and constitute grave breaches of international humanitarian and human rights law.
The international community faces a moral and legal imperative to act decisively. UN experts have called for an immediate end to the violence, safe passage for humanitarian aid, and accountability for perpetrators. States supplying arms or diplomatic support to Israel risk complicity in these violations unless they take concrete steps to halt the atrocities.
The evidence of deliberate Israeli strikes on civilian shelters in Gaza underscores a broader pattern of human rights violations that threaten the survival and dignity of the Palestinian people. The targeting of schools and shelters, combined with a crippling blockade and forced displacement, amounts to a humanitarian catastrophe with possible genocidal intent.
Protecting the human rights of Gaza’s population requires urgent international action to end the violence, ensure humanitarian access, and hold accountable those responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Without such measures, the people of Gaza will continue to suffer devastating violations of their fundamental rights and freedoms.