Key Point
- In the three months since October 7, 75% of school buildings in Gaza were damaged.
- The education of all 625,000 students living in the enclave is affected by continued Israeli military attacks.
- Schools are used as shelters for approximately 2 million internally displaced persons.
In a small tent on the grounds of a school in Rafah, 10-year-old Islam Aziz waits in line for water.
The girl, like nearly two million others in the Gaza Strip, is an internally displaced person. She is no longer able to attend school.
“We never expected the war to go this far, to the point where we had to go to school (to seek shelter). We used to go to school to study, but now I go to school to queue for water and food,” she told Reuters.
“We have the same right to education as children around the world.”
Some Australian students have started the new term, while others will return within days or weeks.
A spokesperson for the United Nations children's agency (UNICEF) told SBS that most schools in Gaza have been damaged or are being used as temporary shelters for people displaced by the crisis.
“More than 90% of schools in the Gaza Strip have been damaged or are being used as shelters for displaced people,” they said.
“Thousands of people have no homes or places to study, and the situation will continue to be dire until a ceasefire is reached,” he said.
Most of Gaza's 22,000 teachers are refugees, spending their days focused on survival rather than planning lessons.
Palestinian children who have taken shelter with their families in schools to protect themselves from Israeli attacks are unable to receive formal education but continue to study the Quran. sauce: getty / anadolu
According to figures in a report compiled by a number of NGOs, 75 percent of school buildings in the Gaza Strip were damaged in the three months since October 7.
According to the UNICEF Save the Children and Education Cluster report entitled 'Education under attack in the Gaza Strip', the education of all 625,000 students in the Gaza Strip is at risk of school closures and education. Affected by attacks on facilities.
Israel has been shelling the enclave ever since.announced by the Israeli government.
This attack significantly escalated the social situation.
Daily life in Gaza is very different from a year ago.
Children's future 'damaged'
Jason Lee, Save the Children's country director for the occupied Palestinian territories, described the attacks on schools in the Gaza Strip as one of many “gross violations against children” that have occurred over the years. Ta.
Palestinian children “are paying the price for a conflict in which they are not involved,” he said.
According to UNICEF, in 2018, 95.4 percent of Palestinian children were receiving basic education, with girls and boys about equally split.
Mr Lee said the psychological harm inflicted on people and the complete destruction of infrastructure such as homes, schools and hospitals had “ruined” the future of children who survived the Israeli attack.
He said the attack on the school was one of several “serious violations against children” in Gaza.
“One percent of Gaza's child population has already been killed by Israeli artillery and ground operations. Starvation is coming ever closer, and some are at risk of dying from starvation and disease.” Stated.
Children in Gaza are focused on survival
“Children in the Gaza Strip continue to face the 'triple threat' of conflict, disease and malnutrition,” a UNICEF spokesperson said.
According to Palestinian health authorities in the Gaza Strip, more than 26,000 people have been killed in the Israeli attack.
According to UNICEF, 4,327 of them were students and 231 were teachers and school staff.
Children and their families in Gaza lack access to basic necessities such as food, water and adequate shelter.
“I want to not die in 2024,” 11-year-old Rayan Halala told Reuters at a tented camp in Rafah on New Year's Day about his wish for next year.
“Our childhood is gone, we have no toilet, no food, no water, only a tent, no safe place. Nothing. Our wish is to return home and end this situation.” she added.
Former teacher tries to bring joy
At a school in Rafah that shelters hundreds of Gazans, teacher Tarek al-Nuaimi has revived the facility as a place of learning, offering English lessons to children staying at the school with their families.
Schools used to be filled with queues of students. Al Nuaimi explained that there are now many queues waiting for clean water and food.
To bring a little joy and education to displaced children, Al Nuaimi now offers regular English classes.
While these one-off classes may provide some semblance of schooling, it is difficult to know when formal education will become an option again for children in the Gaza Strip.
A temporary cessation of fighting was agreed in November, but negotiations since then show no signs of an early end to the war.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected Hamas' terms for ending the war.
