Thousands of kits, including pencils, exercise books, wooden cubes, have now entered the enclave, UNICEF said
An Israeli air strike Wednesday hit a central Gaza school, killing 14 people. PHOTO: REUTERS
GAZA:
The UN children’s agency said on Tuesday it had, for the first time in two-and-a-half years, been able to deliver school kits with learning materials into Gaza after they were previously blocked by Israeli authorities.
Thousands of kits, including pencils, exercise books and wooden cubes to play with, have now entered the enclave, Unicef said.
Read: Israeli airstrikes shatter Gaza ‘ceasefire‘
“We have now, in the last days, got in thousands of recreational kits, hundreds of school-in-a-carton kits. We’re looking at getting 2,500 more school kits in, in the next week, because they’ve been approved,” Unicef spokesperson James Elder said.
COGAT, the arm of the Israeli military that oversees aid flows into the Gaza Strip, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Children in Gaza have faced an unprecedented assault on the education system, as well as restrictions on the entry of some aid materials, including school books and pencils, meaning teachers had to make do with limited resources, while children tried to study at night in tents without lights, Elder said.
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During the conflict, many children missed out on education altogether, facing basic challenges like finding water, as well as widespread malnutrition, amid a major humanitarian crisis caused by Israel’s blockade of aid.
“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,” Elder stated.
Unicef is scaling up its education to support half of children of school age — around 336,000 — with learning support. Teaching will mainly happen in tents, Elder said, due to widespread devastation of school buildings in the enclave during the genocide.
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At least 97% of schools sustained some level of damage, according to the most recent satellite assessment by the UN in July.
The bulk of the learning spaces supported by Unicef will be in central and southern areas of the enclave, as it remains difficult to operate in the north, parts of which were badly destroyed in the final months of the conflict, Elder said.
The attack in October 2023 and Israel’s enactment of the Hannibal Directive killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel’s assault has killed over 71,000 Palestinians, according to official records in Gaza. More than 20,000 children were killed, including 110 since the October 10 ceasefire last year, Unicef said, citing official data.
