Wurud Mughrabi opened her new pink mermaid bag proudly.
asserted
Mughrabi → open → bag
She had been saving it for her first day at school, pairing it with a matching denim outfit.
At six years old, she was one of more than half a million children who was able to attend school last week for in-person teaching for the first time in three years in Gaza.
asserted
who → save → Gaza
"I am very happy," Wurud told the ABC, as her mother tied her hair up inside their tent.
asserted
mother → tell → tent
"I will … go to my school and I will have friends."
asserted
I → go → friends
For most of her childhood, Wurud has only known war, displacement and the search for food and shelter.
asserted
Wurud → know → food
But last week she excitedly wheeled her bright pink backpack to school.
asserted
she → wheel → school
Pens, pencils and notepads are hard to come by in Gaza.
asserted
Pens → come → Gaza
Since the Hamas attacks launched on October 7, 2023, more than 625,000 students in Gaza have gone without in-person classes and regular schooling.
asserted
students → launch → classes
Disruption to daily life has halted education for children aged four–17 after Israel's bombardment of the strip in response to the attacks.
asserted
Disruption → halt → attacks
More than 64,000 children have reportedly been killed or injured in Gaza since October 7, according to UN children's agency UNICEF.
uncertain
children → kill → agency
"Can you imagine … your daughter waking up at night and she is terrified, scared of the bombing?
asserted
she → imagine → bombing
[She is] saying, 'Mommy, I am scared," Wurud's mother, Ibtisam Mughrabi, said of the last three years.
asserted
mother → say → years
The young mother, who was wounded during Israel's war with Gaza, has been raising her daughter alone since her husband was killed in an air strike during the most recent ceasefire.
asserted
husband → wound → ceasefire
"I would have liked him to see her on this day," she said, adding her happiness was not complete without him.
asserted
happiness → like → him
Wurud and her mother have been sheltering in a United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) school in Nuseirat Refugee Camp since they fled their home in northern Gaza City during the war.
asserted
they → shelter → war
Now, the building is doubling up and returning to its previous function as an education centre.
Teaching in tents, desks damaged by war
In the playground of the school, large groups of children weaved and played between tarpaulin tents, a reminder that war was far from over.
asserted
war → double → tents
The same morning, Gazan officials said a 10-year-old was killed by Israeli army fire near the Nuseirat Refugee Camp.
asserted
old → say → Camp
"To be honest, the war did not end, at all, and I am concerned that, God forbid, something will happen during school," Ms Mughrabi said.
asserted
Mughrabi → end → school
Parents lingered in the doorway, watching on proudly as their small children grinned at teachers sharing words and images in front of blackboards.
asserted
children → linger → blackboards
In some classrooms, children sat on the floor due to a lack of desks; others used furniture damaged in the fighting.
asserted
others → sit → fighting
Nearly 98 per cent of school buildings in Gaza have been damaged since October, 7 2023 and more than 93 per cent require major rehabilitation or full reconstruction, according to UNICEF.
uncertain
2023 → damage → UNICEF
With the support of multiple aid organisations, children are learning in municipality schools, private spaces, online and in UNRWA schools — but none of the options are ideal.
asserted
none → learn → options
"It's not what school should look like," Toby Fricker from UNICEF told the ABC.
asserted
Fricker → look → ABC
"But it's about providing some form of structured classes … to be with friends, to be with teachers, to connect."
"This provides some hope amidst all the pain.
asserted
This → provide → pain
Learning comes second to survival
Samaher Oweida is teaching out of a tent in Deir al-Balah; one of many grassroots educational tents operating in the enclave.
asserted
Oweida → come → enclave
UNRWA estimates more than a quarter of a million children are attending schools in similar facilities or heavily damaged classrooms.
asserted
children → estimate → facilities
She said the students did not know how to read or speak to the standard they should.
asserted
they → say → standard
"[Their] biggest concern is finding water.
asserted
concern → find → water
," Ms Oweida told the ABC team in Gaza, describing how the heat of the tents was a huge obstacle to getting the children to concentrate.
"
asserted
children → tell → tents
We try as much as possible to keep them organised, but you feel that these children are older than their age because they are carrying responsibilities far greater than what a child should have to carry."
asserted
child → try → what
She said their fear of bombing remained one of the biggest hurdles.
asserted
fear → say → hurdles
"The children walk without knowing whether a car might be targeted.
uncertain
car → walk → ?
They walk between the tents, and you don't know who is inside a tent or which tent might be targeted," Ms Oweida said.
uncertain
Oweida → walk → tent
Sean Jones, the UNRWA director of affairs for Gaza, described the environment in the strip as "kinetic", despite there being a ceasefire.
"Almost every single day, some of our students, whether they're at home, in a tent, or in an UNRWA school … we have bullets that are ricocheting off of walls, injuring students, and then sometimes even being killed," he said.
asserted
he → describe → students
Due to the ongoing blockade of certain goods into the Gaza Strip, schools have reported a lack of stationery, schoolbooks, desks and chairs.
asserted
schools → report → stationery
Restrictions on items entering the enclave mean there are limited resources, and those that are available are expensive.
asserted
that → enter → enclave
UNICEF said the first time it was able to get any educational supplies into Gaza since the start of the war was February 2026.
asserted
it → say → war
The organisation has distributed more than 290,000 school bags and 38,000 individual stationery kits to children, but it said demand currently outweighed the supply.
asserted
demand → distribute → supply
According to UNRWA, hundreds of backpacks did not make it into the enclave because their blue and white logo was printed on them.
uncertain
logo → accord → them
Mr Jones said these would have contained pens, pencils and other school supplies.
asserted
these → say → pens
…and 18 more, not listed.
The Aporia