Claim school year has ended in Gaza is baseless misinformation
Sarah Rodriguez
Updated on March 24, 2026
- Reports have emerged that Gaza has ended the 2023-24 school year, but it’s baseless misinformation
- A fake statement claiming to be from Gaza’s Ministry of Education is circling social media this week
- However, there are no official reports suggesting that the Palestinian City has cancelled the school year
It comes as an estimated 3,400 children have sadly died in Gaza and more than 6,300 injured. The total death toll has now passed 8,000.
School year has not ended in Gaza
Numerous posts are flooding social media claiming that the school year has ended in Gaza as so many pupils have been killed.
“Gazan Ministry of Education announces end to the academic year as all students killed by Israel,” one Instagram post says.
Another adds on Twitter: “The Gaza school district ended the school year because all the students have been killed… that is insane.”
However, there are no reports stating the 2023/24 school year is cancelled and it’s all groundless misinformation.
The earliest post on Twitter came on October 26, when businessman Fares Shahabi shared a depiction of children in devastated Gaza.
“This school year in Gaza is canceled due to the destruction of schools & death of students..!” he wrote in the caption.
The school year hasn’t been cancelled, but children are unlikely to be attending as many have been destroyed and others are being used as emergency shelters.
Fake Ministry of Education statement
A statement claiming to be from Gaza’s Ministry of Education is also circling which has been translated from Arabic.
“Urgent Ministry of Education in Gaza. Officially, the 2023/2024 academic year has been ended due to the martyrdom,” it says.
However, again, education officials in Gaza have not released any such statement and the whole thing is fake news.
It’s not the first piece of misinformation to spread online in relation to the Israel-Hamas conflict either. Last week, fake reports emerged that smallpox had broken out in Gaza.
Internet users slam misinformation
Many are slamming the misinformation on Instagram, with one person writing: “There are no credible sources yet. Don’t spread misinformation.”
“Delete this. We know how misinformation is used against resistance movements. Do not share information with no reliable source,” said another.
A third person added: “No source, wait for verification. This seems to be an X (Twitter) rumor right now without any proof.”
“I wish people would for one moment try and think about this and realise that this is blatant misinformation. Gaza never claimed this,” someone else said.
