As the new school year begins for students around the world, classrooms in Palestine’s Gaza remain shuttered for a third year in a row, leaving more than 660,000 children — nearly the entire school-aged population — deprived of education, according to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees. 

While this indefinite closure since 2023 is unprecedented, Gaza’s children have repeatedly lost school years to escalated Israeli assaults in recent decades, including a month in 2008–2009, a week in 2012, a delayed start in 2014, at least a day in 2018, and a complete shutdown in 2021.

Amid relentless Israeli bombardment and nearly two years into its genocidal assault on the besieged enclave, thousands of students and education staff have been killed, while the majority of Gaza’s schools lie in ruins or have been converted into shelters for the displaced.