Gaza Strip - Recent

Storyline:
Students enrolled in higher education in Gaza remain uncertain about the future of their studies, as Israeli attacks have destroyed 80 percent of the universities in the enclave.

In a nylon tent in the middle of a camp for displaced persons, Malak Al-Ghoul is one of some 90,000 university students kept away from their classrooms. Despite the trying conditions, she remains determined to continue her education even as hopes for a ceasefire fade.

Al-Ghoul family was displaced from Gaza City to the southern Gaza Strip. Now in a displaced persons camp, her parents are struggling to provide the necessities of daily life to their children, but they do what they can to help her realize her dreams of completing her education.

Teachers and professors also feel the impact of the war, but they continue to provide guidance to their students in any way possible to maintain some form of education, according to Zuhair Al-Masry, dean of the faculty of arts at Al-Azhar University, which was also destroyed in the war.

According to the Palestinian Ministry of Higher Education, Israel is deliberately blocking education for the Palestinians by destroying their academic institutions. It killed no less than 555 university students and 100 academics during the war, in addition to destroying 290 schools and disrupting the education of 625,000 children.

Shotlist:
Gaza Strip - Recent:
1. Various of destroyed buildings;
2. Displaced student in camp;
3. Student studying through cellphone;
4. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Malak Al-Ghoul, university student (partially overlaid with shot 5):
"I am trying in every way to prevent the conflict from stopping me or destroying the dream that I started with. I was supposed to have completed my second year of study, but I have not lost hope. I will continue to try and overcome the difficulties of accessing the internet to record and review my lectures, and I will accomplish that."
[SHOT OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE]
5. Malak studying through cellphone;
[SHOT OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE]
6. Various of Malak in camp with mother;
7. Malak studying through cellphone;
8. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Um Ahmad, mother of Malak:
"My daughter faced many difficulties at first and had to walk to cafeterias to access the internet. The connection was later available in our area. It is difficult for us to pay the high internet access charges, but we will do everything possible to achieve our dream of educating our children – even through the harsh conditions of war."
9. Various of Malak studying in camp;
10. Zuhair Al-Masry, teacher of Al-Azhar University, walking out of camp;
11. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Zuhair Al-Masry, dean of faculty of arts, Al-Azhar University:
"We insist on our right to life. From this standpoint, we at Al-Azhar University are trying to continue the educational process as much as possible, despite the lack of electricity and internet. Our students suffer greatly from the continuous and repeated displacements and the lack of electricity, water and communications, in addition to anxiety disorders and fear in the shadow of war."
12. Various of destroyed buildings, displaced people.

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