Head of the Popular Committees for Refugees in the Gaza Strip:

▪On the occasion of the start of the new academic year in the schools of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees ("UNRWA") in the Gaza Strip, we affirm the following:

▪We welcome the start of the 2026–2027 academic year, and we consider the return of students to the classrooms an important step toward restoring educational life and entrenching the right of refugee children to education.

▪Education is a basic right, not a service that can be reduced or suspended, and we affirm UNRWA's and the international community's responsibility to ensure its continuity.

▪Ensuring education for all students without discrimination or exception, and providing a safe and dignified educational environment for students, teachers, and workers in the education sector.

▪Providing essential educational supplies, including books, stationery, bags, and others, to ensure students' ability to continue their education in proper conditions.

▪Supporting teachers and workers in the education program, and providing the professional and material conditions that enable them to perform their educational mission. Providing psychological and social support for students, in light of the profound effects left by the war, displacement, loss, and difficult humanitarian conditions.

▪Rehabilitating damaged schools and setting a clear plan for their reopening, while expanding temporary learning spaces and equipping them in a way that ensures the quality of education and the dignity of students.

▪Rejecting the transformation of temporary education into a permanent reality, and the need to gradually move to a stable and sustainable educational system, and rebuilding the schools destroyed by the war.

▪Addressing classroom overcrowding and the shortage of educational staff, and ensuring the provision of a sufficient number of teachers to achieve an appropriate educational environment.

▪Giving attention to students with disabilities and providing the educational facilities and services that enable them to access education like other students.

▪Involving parents, educational bodies, and refugee representatives in decisions related to the future of the educational process, and not taking substantive decisions unilaterally.

▪Rejecting any measures that lead to reducing UNRWA's education program or weakening its ability to provide educational services to Palestinian refugees.

▪Affirming the continuation of UNRWA's mandate to provide education and other basic services to Palestinian refugees, as an international responsibility linked to the refugee issue and their rights.

▪Calling on the international community and donor countries to provide sustainable, multi-year funding for UNRWA, in a way that ensures the stability of its services and prevents education from being subject to recurring funding crises.

▪We call for protecting the right of Gaza's children to education and not allowing them to pay the price of war, destruction, and the financial crisis, affirming that investing in their education is an investment in the future of the Palestinian people.

▪We extend greetings to our sons and daughters, the students and their parents, and to the teachers and workers in UNRWA, who continue to perform their mission despite the exceptional circumstances.

▪The continuation of education in Gaza is not just the start of a new academic year, but rather a steadfast commitment to the right of Palestinian refugee children to life, the future, and dignity.