In the summer of 2023, Lana Haroun was among the top students in Gaza who passed her tawjihi, the Palestinian secondary school certificate exam. Shortly afterwards, she enrolled as a first-year English translation student at Gaza's prestigious Al-Azhar University.

"I worked really hard and achieved what I dreamed of. I got the top ranks in Palestine. I was so proud," Haroun told DW, in a voice message from her home in Gaza.

But then war broke out in Gaza, after Hamas-led militants attacked communities in southern Israel on October 7, 2023. Haroun's hopes and dreams, like those of thousands of young people in Gaza, were destroyed.

Over the past 11 months, she and her family have been displaced from their home in central Gaza to Rafah amid heavy fighting, and then back to Gaza's central area. "The faculty of translation is now being reduced to rubble and so are my dreams," she said.

Haroun's top marks in high school meant she may have had opportunities to study abroad — had she been allowed to leave Gaza. Israel and Egypt have tightly controlled movement in and out of the Hamas-ruled territory for 17 years, even before the latest war.

"I choose to study at a local university to stay close to my family because for me, the sense of safety and stability was crucial for success," she said. "That sense of safety I am talking about has shattered, totally."

The devastation has had dire consequences for the territory's youth and their future, especially in a society where education is so important, as it gives students a chance to leave Gaza with a scholarship. Almost 40% of Gaza's population is 14 years old or younger, and the median age in 2020 was 18, making Gaza one of the world's youngest populations.

Extent of damage to school infrastructure

In early September, the school year started officially in some countries across the region — but not in Gaza.

At least 45,000 6-year-olds won't be starting classes any time soon, according to UNICEF. And roughly 625,000 youth registered for school will be missing courses for another school year, as long as the war continues. Most children are busy helping to fetch water and securing food aid, instead of learning how to read and write.

Satellite imagery and analysis by the Global Education Cluster, a research group of aid organizations co-led by UNICEF and British charity Save the Children, has shown that 92.9 % of schools in Gaza have "sustained some level of damage," including direct hits. At least 84.6% of schools will require either "full reconstruction or major rehabilitation work" before classes can resume there.

The UN agency providing aid to Palestinians, UNRWA, has turned most of its schools into shelters. "They have become places of despair, hunger, disease & death," wrote UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini on X, formerly Twitter, on September 11.

"All children have lost an additional year of education to this brutal war. The longer children stay out of school in the rubble of a devastated land, the higher the risk for them to become a lost generation. This is a recipe for future resentment & extremism."

In July alone, 21 strikes on UNRWA schools serving as shelters were recorded across the Gaza Strip. At least 70% of schools run by UNRWA — most were being used as shelters — have been hit during the war, the agency reported in September.

Israel has repeatedly said Islamist group Hamas and other militant groups are using civilian areas such as schools and hospitals for military purposes, and has said it is trying to avoid harming civilians sheltering there. In a statement to DW, the Israel Defense Forces said it operates "exclusively on the grounds of military necessity and in strict accordance with international law."

The IDF added that "it must be emphasized, however, that Hamas unlawfully embeds its military assets in, beneath, and in proximity to densely populated civilian areas, and cynically exploits civilian infrastructure for terror purposes. Specifically, it has been well documented that Hamas exploits schools and UNRWA facilities for its military activities [...]."

Hamas, which rules Gaza, has frequently denied hiding fighters in civilian areas.

According to data collected between October 23, 2023 and July by the Palestinian Ministry of Education and Higher Education in Ramallah, at least 20 university campuses have been severely damaged, and more then 31 university buildings have been destroyed. Some campuses, such as Al-Azhar University in Gaza City, where Lana Haroun was enrolled, appeared to have been used temporarily by the Israeli military, as seen on social media videos posted by Israeli soldiers.

Critics have accused Israel of deliberately targeting educational institutions. "It may be reasonable to ask if there is an intentional effort to comprehensively destroy the Palestinian education system, an action known as 'scholasticide'," a group of UN education experts said in a statement in April. They added that the attacks "present a systematic pattern of violence aimed at dismantling the very foundation of Palestinian society.

Israel's retaliatory war on Gaza — triggered last October after the attacks by Hamas and other militant groups killed 1,200 people and saw 250 people taken as hostages — has killed more than 41,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. Hamas has been designated as a terrorist group by Germany, the US, the EU and other governments.

How students are keeping up their studies

Amid the trauma of war, experts have said most of Gaza's youth will need mental health and psychosocial support for years to come, along with educational support. Some aid agencies and private initiatives have already set up informal programs to help schoolchildren. For university students, the challenge is no less daunting.

In early summer, some universities in the Israeli-occupied West Bank began offering virtual classes to allow students in Gaza to continue their studies, at least partially. Andira Abdallah, a lecturer at Birzeit University's Department of Languages and Translation, volunteered for the project and helped two students in Gaza from her Ramallah living room, reviewing English grammar and reading short texts.

"This hour-and-a-half is probably the only chance for them to discuss something other than surviving," Abdallah told DW. As a teacher, she struggles with what her students are going through on the other side. "We only discuss academics. I know I can't do anything to help them or ease their pain."

Many students have been displaced several times, with family and friends scattered across Gaza. Some have lost loved ones, and many have no home to return to. The war has displaced at least 1.9 million people, according to the UN, almost the entire population of 2.3 million people.

At times, students would go offline because the internet in Gaza was down, even though the lesson was audio only. Speaking with DW as she stood between tents in Khan Younis, one of the students, Fatma Asfour said she was struggling to find a place to connect to the internet and recharge her phone battery.

"I don't know how to describe what we're going through. But it is very important for me to follow this lesson," she said. When the war is over, she said, she hopes to have a career as a makeup artist or in fashion. "We just have to believe that we will make it."

Abdallah Baraka, a computer science student from Deir al-Balah in Gaza, said it was often hard to focus for this one hour.

"I have to spend hours a day looking for water and food. But then there's the issue of safety," he said. "And last time, when I was supposed to study, there was an evacuation order for an area where I have some family and friends. But since they have no internet and the phone service is so bad, I was worried until I reached them. It just takes a toll, mentally."

Even though the world around him is bleak, Baraka wants to finish his studies. "I just want to get a job, preferably working in AI. I'd like to live and build a career."

Edited by: Martin Kuebler