School materials enter Gaza after being blocked for two years, UN agency says

The U.N. children’s agency said on Tuesday it had for the first time in two-and-a-half years been able to deliver school kits with learning materials into Gaza after they were previously blocked by Israeli authorities.

Thousands of kits, including pencils, exercise books and wooden cubes to play with, have now entered the enclave, UNICEF said.

"We have now, in the last days, got in thousands of recreational kits, hundreds of school-in-a-carton kits. We're looking at getting 2,500 more school kits in, in the next week, because they've been approved," UNICEF spokesperson James Elder said.

COGAT, the arm of the Israeli military that oversees aid flows into the Gaza Strip, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Children in Gaza have faced an unprecedented assault on the education system, as well as restrictions on the entry of some aid materials, including school books and pencils, meaning teachers had to make do with limited resources, while children tried to study at night in tents without lights, Elder said.

During the conflict some children missed out on education altogether, facing basic challenges like finding water, as well as widespread malnutrition, amid a major humanitarian crisis.

"It's been a long two years for children and for organizations like UNICEF to try and do that education without those materials. It looks like we're finally seeing a real change," Elder stated.

Reuters