{"id":79485,"date":"2025-11-01T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-01T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/we-want-to-get-our-lives-back-gaza-children-declare\/"},"modified":"2025-11-01T12:00:00","modified_gmt":"2025-11-01T12:00:00","slug":"we-want-to-get-our-lives-back-gaza-children-declare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?p=79485","title":{"rendered":"\u2018We want to get our lives back,\u2019 Gaza children declare"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><strong>\u201cWhat we need now are notebooks, books, and pens. We want to get our lives back\u201d<\/strong>, said one young Palestinian girl, Sham Al-Abd.<\/p>\n<p>She now attends the Deir al-Balah Joint Elementary School run by the UN Palestine refugee agency (UNRWA).<\/p>\n<p>Despite the old furniture and the few drawings that brighten the classroom walls at a school visited by our UN News correspondent, the children\u2019s excitement to return there after months of seeking shelter from the bombs, remains undiminished.<\/p>\n<p>One of Sham\u2019s classmates, Asil Al-Loh, spoke enthusiastically about how she felt: <strong>\u201cWe want to learn and play, and study all subjects as we did before. Now we only study Arabic, English and mathematics.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"context-un_news_full_width_credit_caption type-entermedia_image media media--type-entermedia-image media--view-mode-un-news-full-width-credit-caption\">\n<div class=\"field field--name-thumbnail field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item\">\n<\/div>\n<p>Palestinian student Sham al-Abd at Deir al-Balah Co-educational Primary School, run by UNRWA.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2>Attempt to restore normalcy<\/h2>\n<p>Following the ceasefire in Gaza, UNRWA is working to restore a sense of normalcy in schools that had previously been used as shelters.<\/p>\n<p>Commissioner-General of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, announced that the agency is expanding its \u201cReturn to Learning\u201d programme in Gaza, offering both in-person and online education.<\/p>\n<p>At the Deir al-Balah Joint Elementary School, signs of transformation from shelter to school, are still evident. Our correspondent saw families cooking meals in the corridors, while tents still occupy the schoolyard.<\/p>\n<p>When young student Shahd al-Bahisi returned to Deir al-Balah, she said she found the area \u201cdestroyed,\u201d and that \u201cmany displaced people were still there.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"context-un_news_full_width_credit_caption type-entermedia_image media media--type-entermedia-image media--view-mode-un-news-full-width-credit-caption\">\n<div class=\"field field--name-thumbnail field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/global.unitednations.entermediadb.net\/assets\/mediadb\/services\/module\/asset\/downloads\/preset\/Libraries\/Production%20Library\/29-10-2025-UNNews-Gaza-Education-Class.jpg\/image1170x530cropped.jpg\" alt=\"Students sitting on the floor while attending classes at Deir al-Balah Co-educational Primary School, run by UNRWA.\" title=\"Students sitting on the floor while attending classes at Deir al-Balah Co-educational Primary School, run by UNRWA.\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1170\" height=\"530\"\/>\n<\/div>\n<p>Students sitting on the floor while attending classes at Deir al-Balah Co-educational Primary School, run by UNRWA.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Despite this, Shahd seems determined to resume her studies.<\/p>\n<p>Some classrooms remain without enough chairs, their floors are covered with tarpaulins and blankets. Yet the excitement and determination are shining through.<\/p>\n<h2>A chance at \u2018life, dignity and education\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>\u201cTo date, more than 62,000 students have benefited from temporary learning services through these basic educational activities since their launch on 1 August 2024\u201d, according to Inas Hamdam, UNRWA\u2019s spokesperson.<\/p>\n<p>Deir al-Balah School is one of those converted into a shelter but UNRWA continues to open additional temporary learning spaces, said Ms. Hamdam.<\/p>\n<div class=\"context-un_news_full_width_credit_caption type-entermedia_image media media--type-entermedia-image media--view-mode-un-news-full-width-credit-caption\">\n<div class=\"field field--name-thumbnail field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/global.unitednations.entermediadb.net\/assets\/mediadb\/services\/module\/asset\/downloads\/preset\/Libraries\/Production%20Library\/29-10-2025-UNNews-Gaza-Education-0.jpg\/image1170x530cropped.jpg\" alt=\"Deir al-Balah Co-educational Primary School, run by UNRWA.\" title=\"Deir al-Balah Co-educational Primary School, run by UNRWA.\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1170\" height=\"530\"\/>\n<\/div>\n<p>Deir al-Balah Co-educational Primary School, run by UNRWA.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>She explained that this is being done in parallel with the provision of distance learning services to approximately 300,000 students in Gaza, adding that: \u201c8,000 teachers are contributing to the provision of these services to the children of Gaza who have suffered the ravages of war\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>She emphasised that children, wherever they may be, \u201cdeserve a chance at life, dignity and education\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the war\u2019s devastation, voices and laughter ring out once again in the hallways of Deir-al-Balah\u2019s school.\u00a0<br \/>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2025\/11\/1166232\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cWhat we need now are notebooks, books, and pens. We want to get our lives back\u201d,&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":79486,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[412,4272,190,2004],"class_list":["post-79485","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle-east","tag-children","tag-declare","tag-gaza","tag-lives"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v21.0 (Yoast SEO v27.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>\u2018We want to get our lives back,\u2019 Gaza children declare - Gulf Times | News by the minute<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Gulf Times: Latest news across the GCC from UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Yemen, Saudi Arabia\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2025\/11\/1166232\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u2018We want to get our lives back,\u2019 Gaza children declare\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Gulf News| UAE&#039;s Largest News aggregator site\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2025\/11\/1166232\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gulf Times | News by the minute\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/100084981843786\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-11-01T12:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/image1170x530cropped.avif\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1170\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"530\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"gulftimes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Gulftimesuae\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Gulftimesuae\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"gulftimes\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\u2018We want to get our lives back,\u2019 Gaza children declare - 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