This week, the Al Israa University in Gaza was destroyed by Israeli forces. They used it as a military base for a few weeks before blowing it up.
The fighting in Gaza has caused a lot of people to die, and there is worry about the damage to buildings.
A top person at the UN told media that they are worried that the widespread damage will cause a generation of young people to miss out on opportunities.
Israel started a fight with Hamas because Hamas attacked Israel and killed about 1,200 people, mostly innocent civilians. They also took 240 people as hostages and brought them back to Gaza.
About 130 people are still being held against their will. Nearly 25,000 Palestinians have died in Gaza, according to the health ministry run by Hamas.
The United Nations’ office for helping people in need publishes reports about the bad effects of the war, and they are very sad to read.
New information shows that more than half of the homes in Gaza have been destroyed or harmed. Nine out of every 10 schools have been badly damaged. Hospitals, government buildings, and electricity networks have also been damaged.
Amir Mohammed Al-Najjari is twenty-two years old. He’s from Jabalia in northern Gaza but had to move with his family to a temporary camp near Khan Younis in the south.
He and his brothers and sisters have watched their dreams go up in smoke.
“My sister was in her third year at Al-Quds University, but it got bombed. ” My brother was almost done with school, but the school got bombed. Says Amir, sitting outside the tent we live in now.
He is in the same situation as his brother and sister.
“I completed my engineering degree. ” If there wasn’t any fighting, I could have gone for a job interview and maybe I would have gotten the job. Lastly, there’s my little brother, who is in seventh grade. He went to school at the UN. There is nothing remaining.
Just like any community, the children are the future of Gaza. But here, they are suffering more in war and, the UN says, they may not get what they deserve.
Phillippe Lazzarini is the top leader for UNRWA, the UN group that helps Palestinian refugees. He just came back from visiting Gaza for the fourth time since the war began.
“Today, there are over 500,000 kids in primary and secondary schools. ” Lazzarini tells me that it’s difficult to bring people back to their homes if they’ve been completely destroyed, so how will they go back.
“I’m worried that we might be at risk of losing a whole generation of kids. ”
Pictures of Israeli soldiers celebrating while schools were destroyed became very popular on social media. One image in particular showed a blue UN school in northern Gaza being completely demolished.
These events have caused people to accuse Israel of punishing everyone for the actions of a few. They believe Israel is deliberately destroying things like schools as revenge for an incident with Hamas gunmen.
Cogat is the part of the military that helps the Israeli government with activities in the Palestinian territories. They also watch over aid deliveries going into Gaza.
I asked a top Cogat official why they had to destroy a whole school after Israeli forces had taken it over. He said that Hamas sneaky uses civilian buildings, like schools, to attack Israeli soldiers.
The person in charge said it was true that Hamas and other Palestinian groups were using medical buildings as bases. They found evidence of terrorist activities in almost every hospital.
The accusations have been questioned by health officials and aid agencies, but Gaza’s health system is not working well.
Only 13 out of 36 hospitals in Gaza are working, and many have been damaged by airstrikes, according to the World Health Organization. Many people can’t get the medical help they need because there isn’t enough equipment.
People with cancer, kidney disease, or newborn babies who need special care are at high risk, according to the Ocha bulletin.
Nisreen Abu Nimr comes from the north of Gaza too. She is married and has two children. One of her children was killed in a bombing earlier in the war. Nisreen has had cancer since 2016.
“I was getting treatment for my cancer at a hospital in Gaza. ” Nisreen says that medical treatments have not been given for four months during the Israeli attack.
Some important Israeli politicians on the conservative side, including those in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu‘s government, have said the best way to keep Israel safe is to urge people to leave Gaza for Egypt or other Arab countries, and to re-build Jewish towns there.
Israel says they didn’t try to destroy Gaza on purpose, but Mr. Lazzarini is worried that people may be forced to leave because of the damage.
“He tells me that the situation on the ground is showing that things are going in this direction,” he is clearly worried that if the fighting continues, more than a million displaced people in Gaza will be in a worse situation.
Mr Lazzarini says that we have seen a breakdown in the way people behave in society. Almost all buildings and systems like water and electricity are broken, so people in Gaza can’t get basic services anymore.
Cogat officials disagree with how serious the situation is in Gaza. They say that Israel only attacks civilians and public buildings if they believe they are being used by armed Palestinian groups.
They also say they are working every day with the UN to bring more help to Gaza.
Gaza’s parliament and new courthouse, which was paid for by Qatar, were destroyed by Israeli forces. This has left very little of Gazan society remaining.
The leader of Israel says the fighting in Gaza will keep going until Israel wins and is safe from Hamas.
The Israeli government wants all Israelis to leave Gaza eventually. What will Gaza look like after the war is over.