Gaza students return to in-person schooling for first time in three years

The United Nations Children's Fund says 98% of schools in Gaza were either destroyed or damaged during the war. Hundreds of thousands of children in Gaza returned to in-person teaching on Saturday for the first time in nearly three years, albeit in damaged or makeshift school buildings and tents, and with uniforms, notebooks and pens unaffordable for many families. The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) says 98% of schools in Gaza were either destroyed or damaged during the war, and Gaza education officials say about 660,000 students have been deprived of in-person learning and regular participation in education.

The reopening is a fragile milestone for Gaza after a conflict that has killed around 22,000 students and more than 770 education workers, including 532 teachers, according to Ibrahim Ramadan, director of education for East Khan Younis. Some hope for more than 330,000 children across the #Gaza Strip on the first day of term at 200 learning centres supported by @UNICEF. Routine, stability & social connection - being in class restores some sense of childhood.#GenerationHope pic.twitter.com/TwA0g5BvCj — UNICEF Palestine (@UNICEFpalestine) September 19, 2026 "The last time I have been to school was three years ago.

Now, we are starting the school year, it is year of joy, happiness and success," said Moayed Abu Mustafa in Khan Younis. Mustafa said he was determined to learn even though he will sit on the floor in a tent lacking ventilation, has no decent shoes, notebook or pen, and lost friends during the war. "Despite all of this we will learn, we will learn even in a tent." A displaced Palestinian child lies inside a classroom-turned-shelter in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, September 10, 2026.

REUTERS Fifteen-year-old displaced student Samar Abu Salmi, who lives with her family in a tent, is also returning to class. "We studied on phones and we haven't seen our teachers... now, we are back pursuing our dream...

from one tent to another," she said, speaking in the yard of her new makeshift school. She also lacks much of the essential equipment, which has become unaffordable for her family. Displaced Palestinian student Samar Abu Salmi, 15, sits with other female students inside a tent classroom in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, September 20, 2026.

REUTERS "Before the war, everything was available for us - notebooks, pens, goods, clothes, outings, things that we could get cheaply," Salmi said.