GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip / PNN / 

As the back-to-school season approaches, preparations for the new academic year look dramatically different across the Gaza Strip, where families face harsh living conditions, shortages of school supplies and steep price increases for the items that remain available.

At this time of year, children would normally be choosing new backpacks, notebooks and stationery and looking forward to returning to school. Instead, many families are confronting costs that are beyond their means, particularly households with several children.

For Ahmed Ashraf al-Qreinawi, a father of three in Gaza, the disruption has reached beyond the difficulty of buying school supplies. His daughter, he says, has almost forgotten what school means.

“I started taking my daughter to school, and she asked me, ‘What does school mean?’ She forgot about schools,” he said.

The familiar excitement that once surrounded the start of the school year has also disappeared, al-Qreinawi said.

“Before the war, we used to see the back-to-school atmosphere. The children would go out happy, wanting backpacks, notebooks and books,” he said.

School supplies have become both scarce and expensive. A backpack that cost around 10 shekels before the war now sells for roughly 70 to 100 shekels, he said.

“I have three children, and I can't afford to buy them. Honestly, I can't. What am I supposed to do?” he said.

His experience reflects the mounting pressure on families across Gaza as the school year approaches, with many struggling to afford even the basic supplies their children need.

The rituals of preparing for a new school year have changed dramatically. What was once a simple and eagerly anticipated part of childhood — buying a backpack, stationery and school supplies — has become a financial burden beyond the reach of many families.

As prices rise, parents are left with few choices. Mothers, in particular, are trying to preserve whatever small moments of excitement they can for their children, especially those preparing to experience school for the first time.

Maysaa Abu Taha, a mother of two, described the strain facing families as the school season begins, saying the cost of preparing children for school has become increasingly difficult to manage as prices rise and purchasing power declines.

The burden is particularly heavy for families with three or four children, she said.

A school backpack that cost around 30 shekels before the war now sells for between 60 and 70 shekels, Abu Taha said. On top of that are the costs of stationery, lunch bags and other items children need for school.

Children are already carrying the weight of circumstances beyond their control, Abu Taha said, while parents continue trying to give them some sense of the happiness associated with school, holidays and family occasions.

She spoke with particular sadness about her daughter, who is due to enter first grade this year. The child had been eagerly awaiting the milestone, and her mother had hoped to prepare her in the same way families traditionally prepare children for their first year of school.

But the current circumstances have taken away many of those simple rituals.

“We used to prepare a celebration for a child entering first grade. Now there is no school uniform, no stationery and no backpack,” Abu Taha said.

She said it was painful to see her daughter miss out on the small details that make starting school special.

Instead of feeling that she is going to school prepared and excited, her daughter may feel as if she is simply “going to work in a tent or something,” she said.

For al-Qreinawi, the rising cost of school supplies is another financial pressure on families already struggling to make ends meet.

He said a school bag that cost roughly 71 to 80 shekels before the war has become more expensive, while the price of a notebook has risen from about 1.5 shekels to around 10 shekels.

For families with several children, those increases quickly become overwhelming.

“I have three children. What about those who have five, six or seven? How are they supposed to afford it?” al-Qreinawi said.

The schools themselves have also changed beyond recognition, al-Qreinawi said.

Before the war, schools had playgrounds, swings and spaces designed for children. Today, many classrooms operate in tents or makeshift shelters, making it difficult for children to understand school as the place they once knew.

Al-Qreinawi urged traders to reduce prices as much as possible, pointing to the severe economic conditions, lack of employment opportunities and limited cash available to families.

For parents, he said, the problem is not simply the rising cost of school supplies. It is also the struggle to provide children with their basic needs and create a school environment that can help them recover even a small part of the normal childhood they once knew.

“The situation in Gaza is very difficult,” al-Qreinawi said.

For many children, the return to school — once a season filled with anticipation, new bags and the excitement of a fresh start — has become another reminder of how much of everyday childhood has been lost.

This video was produced as part of the Emergency Media Support Project implemented by the Palestinian Network in cooperation with Palestine Press Operator.