The Israeli military has destroyed three schools in southern Lebanon, according to Lebanon’s Education and Higher Education Minister Rima Karami. In a statement carried by the state-run National News Agency (NNA) on Friday, Karami said Israel “looted” the schools before using explosives to reduce them to “piles of ashes.”

Karami added that these schools have been added to the growing list of educational institutions destroyed during the conflict. At least 20 schools in southern Lebanon have now been completely destroyed, with 100 more damaged.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) reported in June that 17 schools in Lebanon had been destroyed and more than 100 damaged. UNESCO also stated that about 500,000 Lebanese children remain out of school due to the ongoing conflict, warning that prolonged interruptions to education could have lasting consequences on children’s development and wellbeing.

The fighting in Lebanon escalated into a full-scale war in March 2026 after months of cross-border exchanges between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, following the start of the Gaza conflict in October 2023.

Sources