Hundreds of thousands of Palestinian children have begun a new academic year in Gaza, attending schools and educational tents run by UNRWA (the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees) despite widespread destruction to the territory's education infrastructure. More than 95 percent of UNRWA's 182 pre-war schools have been lost or are still occupied by displaced families, leaving many pupils to sit on blankets on bare floors; UNRWA says over 280,000 children are now enrolled across its facilities. The return marks a significant milestone after UNICEF reported that roughly 700,000 children aged 4 to 17 had missed nearly three years of formal in-person schooling since the outbreak of war in October 2023.