عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Features

Gaza Schoolgirl Longs to Return to Class as War Disrupts New Academic Year

A displaced Palestinian student, Rama Abu Seif, speaks during an interview with Reuters, at a school where she shelters with her family, as war disrupts a new academic year, in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, September 2, 2024. REUTERS/Hussam Al-Masri Purchase Licensing Rights
A displaced Palestinian student, Rama Abu Seif, speaks during an interview with Reuters, at a school where she shelters with her family, as war disrupts a new academic year, in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, September 2, 2024. REUTERS/Hussam Al-Masri Purchase Licensing Rights
TT
TT

Gaza Schoolgirl Longs to Return to Class as War Disrupts New Academic Year

A displaced Palestinian student, Rama Abu Seif, speaks during an interview with Reuters, at a school where she shelters with her family, as war disrupts a new academic year, in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, September 2, 2024. REUTERS/Hussam Al-Masri Purchase Licensing Rights
A displaced Palestinian student, Rama Abu Seif, speaks during an interview with Reuters, at a school where she shelters with her family, as war disrupts a new academic year, in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, September 2, 2024. REUTERS/Hussam Al-Masri Purchase Licensing Rights

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 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, according to Reuters.

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 fighters 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."

Most Viewed

 
 
Features

3 days, 640,000 Children, 1.3M Doses...the Plan to Vaccinate Gaza's Young against Polio

FILE - Palestinians displaced by the Israeli air and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip, walk through a dark streak of sewage flowing into the streets of the southern town of Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, on July 4, 2024. Health authorities and aid agencies are racing to avert an outbreak of polio in the Gaza Strip after the virus was detected in the territory's wastewater and three cases with a suspected polio symptom have been reported. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi, File)
TT
TT

3 days, 640,000 Children, 1.3M Doses...the Plan to Vaccinate Gaza's Young against Polio

FILE - Palestinians displaced by the Israeli air and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip, walk through a dark streak of sewage flowing into the streets of the southern town of Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, on July 4, 2024. Health authorities and aid agencies are racing to avert an outbreak of polio in the Gaza Strip after the virus was detected in the territory's wastewater and three cases with a suspected polio symptom have been reported. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi, File)

The UN health agency and partners are launching a campaign starting Sunday to vaccinate 640,000 Palestinian children in Gaza against polio, an ambitious effort amid a devastating war that has destroyed the territory's healthcare system.

The campaign comes after the first polio case was reported in Gaza in 25 years — a 10-month-old boy, now paralyzed in the leg. The World Health Organization says the presence of a paralysis case indicates there could be hundreds more who have been infected but aren’t showing symptoms.

Most people who have polio do not experience symptoms, and those who do usually recover in a week or so. But there is no cure, and when polio causes paralysis it is usually permanent. If the paralysis affects breathing muscles, the disease can be fatal.

The vaccination effort will not be easy: Gaza’s roads are largely destroyed, its hospitals badly damaged and its population spread into isolated pockets.

WHO said Thursday that it has reached an agreement with Israel for limited pauses in the fighting to allow for the vaccination campaign to take place. Even so, such a large-scale campaign will pose major difficulties in a territory blanketed in rubble, where 90% of Palestinians are displaced.

How long will it take? The three-day vaccination campaign in central Gaza will begin Sunday, during a “humanitarian pause” lasting from 6 a.m. until 3 p.m., and another day can be added if needed, said Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, WHO’s representative in the Palestinian territories.

In coordination with Israeli authorities, the effort will then move to southern Gaza and northern Gaza during similar pauses, he said during a news conference by video from Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, according to The AP.

Who will receive the vaccine? The vaccination campaign targets 640,000 children under 10, according to WHO. Each child will receive two drops of oral polio vaccine in two rounds, the second to be administered four weeks after the first.

Where are the vaccination sites? The vaccination sites span Gaza, both inside and outside Israeli evacuation zones, from Rafah in the south to the northern reaches of the territory.

The Ramallah-based Health Ministry said Friday that there would be over 400 “fixed” vaccination sites — the most in Khan Younis, where the population density is the highest and there are 239,300 children under 10. Fixed sites include healthcare centers, hospitals, clinics and field hospitals.

Elsewhere in the territory, there will also be around 230 “outreach” sites — community gathering points that are not traditional medical centers — where vaccines will be distributed.

Where are the vaccines now? Around 1.3 million doses of the vaccine traveled through the Kerem Shalom checkpoint and are currently being held in “cold-chain storage” in a warehouse in Deir al-Balah. That means the warehouse is able to maintain the correct temperature so the vaccines do not lose their potency.

Another shipment of 400,000 doses is set to be delivered to Gaza soon.

The vaccines will be trucked to distribution sites by a team of over 2,000 medical volunteers, said Ammar Ammar, a spokesperson for UNICEF.

What challenges lie ahead? Mounting any sort of campaign that requires traversing the Gaza strip and interacting with its medical system is bound to pose difficulties.

The UN estimates that approximately 65% of the total road network in Gaza has been damaged. Nineteen of the strip's 36 hospitals are out of service.

The north of the territory is cut off from the south, and travel between the two areas has been challenging throughout the war because of Israeli military operations. Aid groups have had to suspend trips due to security concerns, after convoys were targeted by the Israeli military.

Peeperkorn said Friday that WHO cannot do house-to-house vaccinations in Gaza, as they have in other polio campaigns. When asked about the viability of the effort, Peeperkorn said WHO thinks “it is feasible if all the pieces of the puzzle are in place. ”

How many doses do children need and what happens if they miss a dose? The World Health Organization says children typically need about three to four doses of oral polio vaccine — two drops per dose — to be protected against polio. If they don’t receive all of the doses, they are vulnerable to infection.

Doctors have previously found that children who are malnourished or who have other illnesses might need more than 10 doses of the oral polio vaccine to be fully protected.

Are there side effects? Yes, but they are very rare.

Billions of doses of the oral vaccine have been given to children worldwide and it is safe and effective. But in about 1 in 2.7 million doses, the live virus in the vaccine can paralyze the child who receives the drops.

How did this outbreak in Gaza start? The polio virus that triggered this latest outbreak is a mutated virus from an oral polio vaccine. The oral polio vaccine contains weakened live virus and in very rare cases, that virus is shed by those who are vaccinated and can evolve into a new form capable of starting new epidemics.