The UN children’s agency has delivered school stationery kits into Gaza for the first time since the war began, it revealed on Tuesday, as Palestinians wait for the Rafah border crossing to open.
Thousands of kits, including schoolbooks and pencils, that had been blocked by Israeli authorities have now entered the enclave, Unicef spokesman James Elder said on Tuesday. He added that 2,500 more kits were expected to arrive next week.
Israel tightly controls entry to and exit from Gaza. It has blocked many supplies it considers to be “dual-use”, meaning they could have military applications, often frustrating aid workers trying to take in shelters and sleeping bags.
An Israeli army operation that found the body of the last hostage on Monday raised hopes that the Rafah crossing with Egypt would be opened. Israel had previously tied the border closure to the search. But no announcement has yet been made about reopening that route.
About 20,000 people are waiting for treatment abroad, according to a statement by Gaza's health ministry. “Opening the crossing and facilitating [their] exit … is the latest remaining hope for these patients,” it said.
Mr Elder said getting children back into schools in Gaza was an “immediate priority” as a fragile ceasefire holds in the enclave.
“Almost two and a half years of attacks on Gaza’s schooling have left an entire generation at risk,” he warned. He said restoring education services “must sit at the very top of Gaza's recovery agenda”.
Sixty per cent of school-age children in Gaza have no access to in-person learning, according to Unicef. More than 97 per cent of schools have been damaged or destroyed throughout Israel's war on the enclave, it added.
About 92 per cent of Gaza's schools will require either full reconstruction or major restoration to function. Meanwhile tents serve as temporary classrooms “which means in winter they're cold … in summer they'll be scorchingly hot”, said Mr Elder. There are “long waiting lists” at Unicef learning centres.
Unicef said it was working with the Palestinian Ministry of Education and other UN partners to expand non-formal learning for children. It aims to expand its Back to Learning programme to reach 336,000 children in Gaza this year.
“It's been a long two years for children and for organisations like Unicef to try and do that education without those materials. It looks like we're finally seeing a real change,” Mr Elder said.
“Before this war on children, Palestinians in Gaza had some of the highest literacy rates in the world. Today, that legacy is very much under attack. Schools, universities and libraries have been destroyed, and years of progress have been erased,” he added.
“This isn't just physical destruction. It is an assault on the future itself.”
A recent study by Cambridge University warned of the risk of a “lost” generation emerging in Gaza, through a combination of the war’s physical and psychological effects, as well as the destruction of schools.
Even if the ceasefire holds, “learning recovery” would take longer than simply replacing the time lost, due to the compounding effects of trauma and starvation, researchers said.
At least 64,000 children have been killed or maimed in Israel's war on Gaza, according to Unicef.
A ceasefire came into effect last October, although Israeli strikes on the strip continue almost daily.
The reopening of the Rafah crossing is the last sticking point before the initiation of the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire under US President Donald Trump’s peace plan. Its reopening will allow the entry of humanitarian aid, as well as medical evacuations.
