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

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,, director of education for East Khan Younis. And they're back, finally!

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.#Generation.

Hopepic.twitter.com/TwA0g5Bv. Cj— 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. REUTERSFifteen-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.

Mattresses and blackboard. Despite the devastation in the enclave, the Ministry of Education, backed by international and local organisations, has moved ahead with the 2026-27 academic year, establishing dozens of temporary schools made of tents, tarpaulins, sheet metal and wood to accommodate pupils.

Some are built on sandy ground, while others have classrooms with only some mattresses and a blackboard, into which students cram. Others are still housing dozens of displaced families. Attending another school was 14-year-old Yamen Abu Samra.

"We used to wake up happy to go to school... Now, when we come to school, we're afraid of stray bullets, rockets, strikes, everything," he said. "Now, I'm sitting in a tent that has absolutely nothing, just the sun and the heat," he added.

At least 540,000 students are expected to attend in-person classes this year in makeshift private schools, temporary learning centres and educational points, with UNICEF support,. Online learning will continue for those who cannot attend classes or who left Gaza during the war.

Israeli forces remain in control of more than 60% of Gaza despite last year's ceasefire, which halted major fighting but failed to end the conflict. Palestinian students attend their first day of the new school year at an UNRWA school in Nuseirat, in the central Gaza Strip, September 19, 2026.

"This notebook, which used to cost 3 shekels ($1), now costs 15 (shekels). All stationery items are expensive," he said. Israel's COGAT military agency, which controls access to Gaza, did not respond to a Reuters request for comment on restrictions on supplies and strikes on schools.

Israel has repeatedly accused Hamas of using schools for military purposes, which Hamas denies.