Gaza schoolgirl longs to return to class as war disrupts new academic year

By Hussam al-Masri

GAZA (Reuters) - Gaza schoolgirl Rama Abu Seif longs to return to a classroom to study but it is now a dormitory for families displaced by war. Her books were burned to light fires in clay ovens. Her school bag is stuffed with clothes in case she needs to flee an Israeli bombardment quickly.

The 12-year-old missed grade six last year and will be deprived of grade seven as the war between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas rages on.

"Of course, the children who are my age and younger than me, they all want to go back to northern (Gaza) and relive their school days, study and play at school, but all of that is gone and we lost two years because of the war," she said.

There are no prospects for Rama and many other children to return to school any time soon in the Gaza Strip, which has been laid to waste by Israeli bombardments.

Since the war began on Oct. 7, schools have been bombed or turned into shelters for displaced people, leaving Gaza's estimated 625,000 school-aged children unable to attend classes.

Instead of playing sports and games in the school playground, Rama waits in long lines for her turn to collect water, which is often dirty and undrinkable.

And there is no end in sight.

The United States, Qatar and Egypt have failed to mediate a deal that would secure a ceasefire and the return of hostages held in Gaza by Hamas.

The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered last October when Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel's subsequent assault on the Hamas-governed enclave has killed over 40,600 Palestinians, according to the local health ministry. Most of Gaza's 2.3 million people have been displaced, triggering a hunger and health crisis in the enclave.

Rama and her classmates can only recall better days in an impoverished yet once vibrant Gaza, one of the most densely populated areas in the world.

Gaza and the occupied West Bank have internationally high literacy levels, and the under-resourced education system was a rare source of hope and pride among Palestinians.

Since the war erupted, Gazans have fled up, down and across the territory, often repeatedly, seeking safety and a place to sleep in schools like the one in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza where Rama and her family live.

But nowhere is safe.

In early August, an Israeli airstrike on a Gaza City school compound housing displaced Palestinian families killed around 100 people, Gaza's emergency services said. Israel said the toll was inflated and 19 militants were among the dead.

"In the past we would open the bag and find the book in it, so we would take the book and study," Rama said.

"But now we open the bag and find clothes inside it, clothes for displacement that we take with us wherever we go, from place to place."

(Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Ros Russell)