As Palestinians marked the 78th Nakba Day on Friday, children in Gaza continued to be stripped of their right to education, as bombs are turning their schools into rubble, and smashing what was left of young survivors' futures.
On May 14, 1948, Israel declared statehood. The very next day, the First Arab-Israeli War broke out, forcing nearly one million Palestinians into exile. Since then, Palestinians have marked May 15 as their Nakba Day -- the Day of Catastrophe.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinian children lost their schools in the displacement and forced migration that followed the Nakba. Today, 78 years into the ongoing catastrophe, the children of Gaza find themselves facing a strikingly similar fate to that of their grandparents.
In southern Gaza's Khan Younis, a former school now bears bullet-riddled walls and shattered windows. Its classrooms are packed with displaced families who have fled from across the Strip.
On the school's playground, tents of all sizes stand tightly packed together. Among them lives 13-year-old Wael Shahin and his family. He is a former student of the school, now deprived of education, like so many others.
"This is my school. When I saw it destroyed like this, I felt so sad -- because our future has become uncertain. No school. No education. Every morning when I wake up, instead of going to school, I go fetch water and wait in line at soup kitchens to get food for my family. The hours just slip away. My dream is to go back to school, grow up, and become an engineer. I hope the school can reopen -- so we can start learning again, start our lives over, earn our diplomas, find joy, and reclaim our future," said Wael Shaheen.
Gaza's education system and infrastructure have suffered devastating blows and show little sign of recovery. Many teachers have been killed or displaced, and there is a severe shortage of textbooks and teaching materials.
According to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), 97 percent of school buildings in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, and more than 650,000 children have been unable to attend school normally for nearly three years. Hundreds of schools have been repurposed as shelters.
"Now we find ourselves back in 1948 -- just like our grandparents. No future. Dreams shattered. Schools destroyed. Our grandparents told us stories about their days, but we are living through something even harder than they did. Kids at 11 or 12 years old -- no education, just war. This is the very catastrophe of 1948 replaying itself, only worse," said Nour Shaheen, Waler's uncle.
Gaza observes 78th Nakba Day with children deprived of education
