---
title: "Lebanon accuses Israel of destroying three schools in the south"
description: "Lebanon's education minister said Israeli forces blew up three schools in the country's south, reducing them to rubble, and urged international pressure to protect schools. Israel, which says it targets Hezbollah, has not commented on the specific claim. The dispute tests a fragile US-brokered truce."
category: "World"
category_url: https://newsparlor.com/category/world
author: "Liam Fitzgerald"
published: 2026-07-18T04:26:00.000Z
updated: 2026-07-18T04:26:00.000Z
canonical: https://newsparlor.com/article/lebanon-accuses-israel-destroying-schools
tags: ["lebanon", "israel", "hezbollah", "conflict", "education"]
---
# Lebanon accuses Israel of destroying three schools in the south

Lebanon's education minister said Israeli forces blew up three schools in the country's south, reducing them to rubble, and urged international pressure to protect schools. Israel, which says it targets Hezbollah, has not commented on the specific claim. The dispute tests a fragile US-brokered truce.

Lebanon has accused the Israeli military of destroying three schools in the south of the country, the latest flashpoint in a conflict that has battered Lebanon's education system and strained a fragile ceasefire.

Lebanon's minister of education and higher education, Rima Karami, said Israeli forces had "looted" three schools and blown them up with explosives, leaving them in "piles of ashes," [according to Al Jazeera](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/7/18/israeli-army-destroys-three-schools-in-southern-lebanon-minister-says), citing the country's state National News Agency. She called on the international community to press Israel to halt attacks on schools and to protect them during the conflict. The minister's statement did not name the specific schools or villages, and the report cited no casualties.

The Israeli military has not publicly addressed this specific allegation.

## A pattern of disputed cases

The claim follows earlier, similar incidents. In April, a public high school in the southern town of Marwahine was [destroyed with explosives, which the Israeli army said followed its discovery that Hezbollah had used the building to store weapons](https://today.lorientlejour.com/article/1503785/public-high-school-in-marwahine-south-lebanon-destroyed-with-explosives-by-israeli-army.html). Lebanese officials disputed that the school had any military use. That pattern, of Israel citing alleged Hezbollah activity and Lebanon rejecting it, has recurred through the conflict.

Human Rights Watch, in a report last year, [documented cases of Israeli forces occupying and vandalising schools in southern Lebanon](https://www.hrw.org/news/2025/08/06/lebanon-israeli-forces-occupied-vandalized-schools). In that report, an Israeli military spokesperson said troops operated from civilian buildings according to "operational needs and the circumstances on the ground," and said that vandalism of civilian property did not align with the military's values and violated its regulations. Hezbollah did not respond to the group's questions about whether it had used schools for military purposes.

## A battered school system

The individual cases sit within far wider damage. International agencies have reported that at least around 20 schools in southern Lebanon have been completely destroyed and more than 100 damaged since hostilities escalated, disrupting the education of hundreds of thousands of children and raising fears that many will miss the coming school year unless buildings are repaired.

## A truce under strain

The allegations come as a US-mediated framework agreement, [signed on June 26](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/7/18/israeli-army-destroys-three-schools-in-southern-lebanon-minister-says), is meant to guide a phased Israeli withdrawal from occupied Lebanese territory. The deal set no firm timetable, and links any withdrawal to the disarmament of Hezbollah in the areas concerned, leaving considerable room for friction on the ground.

For now, each new claim of destruction, and each Israeli assertion that its targets are military, deepens the mistrust between the two sides and underscores how far southern Lebanon remains from a durable peace. Independent verification in the area is difficult, and the competing accounts of what happened to the three schools may be hard to resolve.