Education Returns to Gaza City Ruins

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After two years of silence and destruction, a fragile sense of normalcy is returning to Gaza City as children head back to makeshift classrooms. In the Tel al-Hawa neighbourhood, the ruins of the Lulwa Abdel Wahab al-Qatami School, hit by airstrikes in early 2024, have been transformed into a lively, albeit chaotic, learning center. Following the October ceasefire, tents have been pitched across the former shelter grounds, where teachers are now guiding pupils through basic Arabic and English lessons. For many of the students, these noisy classrooms represent their first return to a structured routine since the conflict began, offering a rare glimpse of childhood stability amid the remnants of war.

The scale of the educational recovery remains daunting, as UNICEF reports that more than 97% of Gaza’s schools were damaged or destroyed during the fighting. Of the 658,000 school-aged children in the Strip, the vast majority have been without formal education for nearly two years, their lives instead defined by displacement and loss. While the IDF has frequently claimed that Hamas utilised school infrastructure for operations, the focus for families has shifted toward rebuilding.