'War stole our future' The children denied an education

Every evening, for two hours, Asma Mustafa sits down with the small children of Nuseirat camp in central Gaza for what now passes as school in the beleaguered strip.

- Bethan McKernan

She makes do with what is available: sometimes there are pens and paper for basic maths and literacy, but most class time is taken up with storytelling, singing and play.

"I have been doing this since November," said Mustafa, 38, who taught at a girls' high school in Gaza City before the war. "Many children are now working or helping their families find basic things like food during the day, but I try to give them a little bit of structure and normality in the evenings." Last week was supposed to mark the beginning of the new school year, but in Gaza 625,000 schoolage children are now entering a second year in which they have been denied the right to education because of the Israel-Hamas war.

More than 45,000 six-year-olds were due to start school this year.