Deir al-Balah (AP): Bissan Younis stood outside a cluster of tents surrounded by rubble and debris — a scene now common across the Gaza Strip. The makeshift encampment served as yet another temporary school, but it still had no space for her teenage son Kareem.

“Most of the schools are destroyed,” she told The Associated Press. “Every school I go to tells me there is no room.”

More than 600,000 Palestinian children in Gaza have missed two years of school because of the war between Israel and Hamas. Instead of studying, they have been repeatedly displaced, fleeing airstrikes and shelling, often spending their days searching for water and food for their families.

With a ceasefire largely holding since last month, humanitarian agencies are working urgently to reopen dozens of makeshift schools. UNICEF spokesperson John Crickx said returning children to classrooms is critical not only for basic education but also for their mental health.

“In the weeks to come, if we don't offer education, there could be terrible consequences for an entire generation,” he warned.

UNICEF estimates that over 630,000 children missed schooling during the war, and only about 100,000 have been able to return so far. Separately, UNRWA is providing some level of education through its contracted teachers for about 40,000 students, though many of its schools — which previously served half of Gaza's children — are now shelters for displaced families.

No space for tents

A major obstacle is the lack of safe space. Numerous schools were badly damaged or destroyed. Many others remain packed with displaced Palestinians who have been uprooted multiple times.

“It's basically tents among displaced people's tents, or prefabs or shelters,” Crickx said. “It's the most basic learning.”

At one makeshift school — a cluster of UNICEF tents set amid bombed-out buildings in Khan Younis — children huddled closely around their teacher.

Finding safe locations for tents is already difficult. Equally challenging is bringing supplies into Gaza, from concrete to repair schools to basic items such as pencils and erasers. Since the war began with the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, these supplies have been blocked. Israel considers them “non-critical, non-life-saving,” Crickx said.

COGAT, the Israeli military body overseeing entry of goods into Gaza, offered no immediate comment.

Children who do manage to return to makeshift classrooms still carry the psychological scars of war and displacement. “The level of trauma among the people of Gaza, including children, is horrific,” said UNRWA communications director Juliette Touma.

UN agencies say damage assessment remains difficult. Reconstruction has not begun, and experts estimate rebuilding Gaza could take years and cost around USD 70 billion.

Schools turned into shelters

About 75,000 people continue to shelter inside UNRWA-run schools. Among them is Tahreer al-Oweini, who said she feels guilty but has no other option.

“I live in a classroom that should be in session with a teacher, students, and a blackboard,” she said, surrounded by tarped-over damaged walls and ceilings.

Al-Oweini is struggling to find places for her three daughters and son in elementary and middle school. She even told one principal she would bring her own chair and desk — but was still turned away.

“The children forgot everything they learned,” she said. “Their life over the past two years has been getting water, running after aid vehicles, war, Hamas, shelling, destruction. They have lived in fear or horror.”

During the heaviest fighting, some communities tried to hold informal lessons, but bombardment, power cuts, and shortages made this extremely difficult. Many parents, fearing for their children's safety, kept them close.

UNRWA warns that Gaza is facing a “lost generation.” The longer children remain out of school, the harder it will be to catch up. Touma fears children may fall “prey to exploitation, including child marriage, child labor, and recruitment into armed groups.”

Still, families like al-Oweini's cling to hope.

“I want my children to be like their father who finished university,” she said. Her daughters hope to become doctors or engineers. “They have ambition. But if they don't go to school, they will have no future.”