Some students in the Gaza Strip have resumed their education in partially destroyed school buildings or makeshift tents after two years of war brought their learning to a halt.
A month after a fragile ceasefire took effect, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) and Gaza's education ministry announced that children had gradually begun returning to schools in areas not under Israeli military control.
According to a U.N. assessment, 97 percent of Gaza's schools sustained some level of damage, including from "direct hits,” with most of them needing full reconstruction or major rehabilitation.
Israeli strikes have killed many Palestinians sheltering in schools, with Israel alleging that Hamas fighters hide in such establishments.
With schools also serving as displacement shelters, the U.N. agency has recently opened "temporary learning spaces".
Last month, UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said that more than 25,000 children have joined these new spaces and some 300,000 would follow online classes.
But that still falls short of the Education Ministry's estimates of more than 758,000 students in the strip.
With no backpack, books or uniform, 11-year-old Layan Haji navigates the ruins of Gaza City and heads to a makeshift classroom.
But the school is not what she is used to. Painted walls and students' artwork no longer adorn the walls and hallways, instead, tents set up in a battered building serve as their temporary classrooms.
"I walk for half an hour at least. The streets are devastated, full of ruins... It is difficult and sad," Haji told AFP, wearing a torn shirt and patched trousers.
But "I am happy to return to my studies," added the young girl, who already dreams of becoming a doctor.
Haji is one of 900 students who are going to the Al-Louloua al-Qatami school, one of a number of these establishments that have opened their doors in a bid to allow children to resume their schooling for the first time since the Israel-Hamas war broke out.
"We don't have books or notebooks. The libraries are bombed and destroyed," said Haji, who lives in a displacement camp in the Tal al-Hawa area in Gaza City.
"There is nothing left," she added.
Sixteen-year-old Said Sheldan said he was full of joy at being able to attend school now that the war has stopped.
But "I don't have books, notebooks, pens or a bag. There are no chairs, electricity or water -- not even streets," he said.
But before going to the classroom, Sheldan has much more basic needs to attend to.
"Every morning, I have to collect water and wait in line for bread," said Sheldan, whose family has been displaced "10 times" and "no longer have a home.”
