Maha Ali, a student from Gaza, Palestine, had always dreamed of becoming a journalist. She hoped to excel in her studies, one day work as a journalist, and become a voice that brings Gaza’s news to the world. However, today, Maha and other Gaza students who once had high hopes have only one goal: to find food and survive. Since October 7, 2023, as Jews have been launching inhumane attacks on Gaza to exterminate its people, killing many, Maha has been living in the bombed-out building of Gaza’s Islamic University. This building, which was once the main educational center of Gaza, has now become a shelter for Gaza’s displaced residents. All educational centers in Gaza are in this condition today.
“We always say we want to live. We want to get an education and become successful. We also wish to travel and see the world. But today, our greatest desire has become finding something to eat,” said Maha. Maha represents Maha represents the young generation of Gaza who have been deprived of educational opportunities due to the Jewish aggression. As Jews continue to launch powerful attacks without regard for schools or hospitals, all such institutions in the city have been razed to the ground. So far, over 61,000 people in Gaza have been martyred in these Jewish attacks.
Palestinian Education Minister Amjad Barham said that Jews are attacking and destroying Gaza’s schools and universities as part of a special plan to achieve a specific goal. He stated that 293 out of 307 schools in Gaza have been destroyed in Jewish attacks. He said the Jews’ aim is to extinguish the flame of hope in the hearts of Gaza’s children. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that satellite assessments conducted in July revealed that 97% of Gaza’s schools have suffered various degrees of damage in Jewish attacks. Of these, 91% of the facilities can only be used again after major repairs or complete reconstruction.
OCHA further stated that Jews are obstructing the entry of educational materials into Gaza. For these reasons, significant obstacles to providing education in Gaza have arisen. Nineteen-year-old Yasmeen Al-Za’neen spends time in her temporary shelter with the books she uses for learning that survived the Jewish attacks. Reminiscing about the past, Yasmeen said she was a student who placed great importance on education. However, the war has changed everything, and years of hard work she had built for herself have been lost in an instant, she said.
Saja Azwan, a 19-year-old who was among the top students at Al-Azhar University in Gaza, now lives with her family in a Gaza school. She described how Jews bombed the university where she once studied. In the war situation, all her books and study materials have been lost. She writes her thoughts and information on the few papers she has to keep her mind fresh. “All my memories, dreams, and goals are connected to the university where I studied. I was turning turning my dreams into reality. That place was my life. Going there refreshed my mind,” Saja said.
It’s difficult to predict when Gaza’s students will be able to return to their classrooms. Although negotiations between Jews and the ruling Hamas group in Gaza have been ongoing with the help of mediators, an agreement to cease aggression has not yet been reached. Instead of stopping the aggression, Jews are still planning to expand their military operations in Gaza and colonize the entire Gaza Strip.
