Dozens of Palestinian parents and students staged a sit-in on Sunday outside the UNRWA Jerusalem Girls' School in Silwan, protesting Israel's forced closure of schools that once served as a lifeline for hundreds of children in occupied East Jerusalem.

Chants like “Our children have the right to learn” and “Open the school doors” echoed through the neighbourhood as families demanded an end to what they call a deliberate attempt to erase Palestinian education from Jerusalem. For many, there is no alternative. “There is no other school,” one mother cried. “This is all we had.”

The protest comes after Israeli forces stormed UNRWA schools last Thursday, expelling students and staff with immediate effect. Six schools have now been shut down, displacing over 550 children, some of whom had already faced repeated displacements due to conflict and demolitions.

UNRWA confirmed the closures, describing them as a “blatant attack” on children's right to education. The agency says it was left with no choice but to evacuate all students from its six schools across East Jerusalem.

This crackdown follows an Israeli law passed in October 2024 banning UNRWA’s operations in areas under Israeli control. By 8 May 2025, Israeli authorities handed formal notices prohibiting entry to UNRWA schools in Shuafat, Sur Baher, Silwan, and Wadi al-Joz, ordering parents to register their children in schools run by the Israeli municipality—institutions many Palestinians view with deep mistrust.

For Palestinians in Jerusalem, this is not just about school buildings—it is about the systematic erasure of their identity, their history, and their future. And as their children are pushed out of classrooms and into uncertainty, they continue to stand firm, refusing to be silenced.