The UN children’s agency said on Tuesday it had, for the first time in two-and-a-half years, been able to deliver school kits with learning materials into Gaza.
Thousands of kits, including pencils, exercise books, and wooden cubes for play, have now entered the enclave, UNICEF said.
"We have now, in the last days, got in thousands of recreational kits, hundreds of school-in-a-carton kits. We're looking at getting 2,500 more school kits in, in the next week, because they've been approved," UNICEF spokesperson James Elder said.
COGAT, the arm of the Israeli military that oversees aid flows into the Gaza Strip, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Children in Gaza have faced an unprecedented assault on the education system, as well as restrictions on the entry of some aid materials, including school books and pencils, meaning teachers had to make do with limited resources, while children tried to study at night in tents without lights, Elder said.
Children missed out on education
During the conflict, some children missed out on education altogether, facing basic challenges like finding water, as well as widespread malnutrition, amid a major humanitarian crisis.
"It's been a long two years for children and for organizations like UNICEF to try and do that education without those materials. It looks like we're finally seeing a real change," Elder stated.
UNICEF is scaling up its education to support half of the children of school age - around 336,000 - with learning support. Teaching will mainly happen in tents, Elder said, due to widespread devastation of school buildings in the enclave during the war, which was triggered by Hamas' assault on Israel in October 2023.
At least 97% of schools sustained some damage, according to the UN's most recent satellite assessment in July.
Israel has previously accused Hamas and other terror groups of systematically embedding in civilian areas and structures, including schools, and using civilians as human shields.
The bulk of the learning spaces supported by UNICEF will be in central and southern areas of the enclave, as it remains difficult to operate in the north, where parts were badly damaged in the final months of the conflict, Elder said.