First kindergarten opens in northern Gaza since start of Israeli attacks

GAZA CITY, Palestine

As Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip continue, a kindergarten opened in the north of the Palestinian enclave for the first time since the deadly onslaught began nearly seven months ago.

Amid the intense Israeli campaign of bombing and ground attacks, education has been severely disrupted across the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7 last year, along with many other aspects of daily life.

The Siraj Al-Aqsa kindergarten opened in Gaza City, which had been one of the first targets of the aerial bombardment and ground attacks. Children aged four and up are now going to the school run by volunteer teachers, playing and learning despite the hunger, displacement, and destruction around them.

Opened through the efforts of the volunteer teachers, the kindergarten provides psychological support to schoolchildren from Gaza City and other northern regions.

"Children brought together with education are also provided with entertainment-based activities and psychological support to alleviate the effects of the pain they experience due to the war," Ikram Hale, one of the teachers, told Anadolu.

"Despite all the challenges we face, our goal is to raise an educated generation," says Hale.

Nesrin Abu Nahl, a Palestinian mother whose child attends the kindergarten, is glad to see children return to school.

She noted that this step was taken "at a time when children are experiencing difficult psychological problems due to the ongoing Israeli attacks."

"We are trying to build an educated generation. Children at this age need education and development," she added.

Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7 Hamas incursion, which killed less than 1,200 people.

Tel Aviv, in comparison, has killed more than 34,600 Palestinians and wounded over 77,900 amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities in the Palestinian territory.

Nearly seven months into the Israeli onslaught, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins, pushing 85% of the enclave’s population into internal displacement besides a crippling blockade on food, clean water, and medicine, according to the UN.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which in January issued an interim ruling that ordered Tel Aviv to prevent genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

*Writing by Zehra Nur Duz