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With Gaza's education system shattered by two years of gruelling war, Unicef's regional director says he fears for a "lost generation" of children wandering ruined streets with nothing to do."This is the third year that there has been no school," Edouard Beigbeder, the UN agency's regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, told AFP in Jerusalem on Thursday after returning from the Palestinian territory."If we don't start a real transition for all children in February, we will enter a fourth year. And then we can talk about a lost generation."The devastating conflict between Israel and Hamas reduced swathes of Gaza to rubble, displaced the vast majority of its population at least once and crippled public services.The destruction "is almost omnipresent wherever you go," Beigbeder said."It is impossible to imagine 80 percent of a territory that is completely flattened out or destroyed," he added.A US-brokered ceasefire which came into effect earlier in October has allowed Unicef and other education partners to get about one-sixth of children who should be in school into temporary "learning centres," Beigbeder told AFP."They have three days of learning in reading, mathematics and writing, but this is far from a formal education as we know it," he added.Beigbeder said that such learning centres, often located in schools or near displacement camps, consisted of metal structures covered with plastic sheeting or of tents.He said there were sometimes chairs, cardboard boxes or wooden planks serving as tables, and that children would write on salvaged slates or plastic boards."I've never seen everyone sitting properly," he added, describing children on mats or carpets.Despite the ceasefire, Beigbeder said the situation for Gaza's education system was catastrophic, with 85 percent of schools destroyed or unusable.Of the buildings still standing, many are being used as shelters for displaced people, he said, with the situation compounded by the fact that many children and teachers are also on the move and looking to provide for their own families.Gaza's school system was already overcrowded before the conflict, with half the pre-war population under the age of 18.Of the schools managed by the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority alone, Beigbeder said that some 80 out of 300 were in need of renovation.He said 142 had been completely destroyed, while 38 were "completely inaccessible" because they were located in the area to which Israeli troops have withdrawn under the ceasefire.The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said on October 18 that it was launching a "new e-learning school year" with the aim of reaching 290,000 pupils.Beigbeder said it was vital to put education "at the top of the agenda" and rebuild a sense of social cohesion for Gaza's children, almost all of whom are traumatised and in need of psychological support.Unicef said one of the priorities was getting permission at border crossings to bring in materials to set up semi-permanent schools, as well as school supplies which have been blocked as they're considered non-essential.Israel repeatedly cut off supplies into the Gaza Strip during the war, exacerbating dire humanitarian conditions, with the UN saying it caused a famine in parts of the Palestinian territory.The World Health Organisation said Thursday there had been little improvement in the amount of aid going into Gaza since the ceasefire took hold -- and no observable reduction in hunger."How can you rehabilitate classrooms if you don't have cement? And above all, we need notebooks and books ... blackboards, the bare minimum," said Beigbeder."Food is survival. Education is hope".

The Palestinian Ministry of Education confirmed that the education system is being subjected to an ongoing, unprecedented, and systematic annihilation, particularly in the Gaza Strip, by the Israeli occupation. Thousands of school and university students were martyred, and hundreds of educational facilities were destroyed, representing a major crime against humanity and a clear violation of the right to education. In a statement issued on the occasion of the International Day to Protect Education from Attack, the ministry explained that the West Bank, including Jerusalem, is witnessing a comprehensive targeting of the education system amid an escalation in violations against staff, students, and educational and academic institutions. This is particularly true in Jerusalem, the northern West Bank districts, the Jordan Valley, Yatta, and the Old City of Hebron, through acts of destruction, raids, and harassment of schools, students, and staff. The ministry called on the international community, UN institutions, human rights organizations, and education advocates to assume their responsibilities and take urgent action to stop this genocide against Palestinian education. It also called for the protection of schools, students, teachers, and educational and academic personnel in accordance with international laws and conventions. Education is a right, and targeting it is a crime. The ministry also stressed that this day is an opportunity to shed light on the violations that have affected education in the Gaza Strip, to the point that they amount to educational genocide.