Gazan teacher builds Sinai school for 400 displaced children

Palestinian teacher Hadeel Zourob has built a free school in Egypt's North Sinai for nearly 400 displaced Gazan children who were uprooted by the Israel-Hamas war.

The school in El-Arish, about 44 kilometres from the Gaza border, teaches children aged six to 18 using the Palestinian curriculum. Zourob, who was also displaced from Gaza, said she started the centre because children arriving in Egypt had no school to attend.

Zourob began with other displaced Palestinian teachers in a rented building. The initiative has grown from about 150 students in its first year to nearly 400, with support for rent and school supplies from the Misr El Kheir Foundation, she said.

Some pupils came to El-Arish for treatment for war injuries, while others fled with their families. Most live in free temporary accommodation provided by Egyptian authorities, and some are still receiving rehabilitation or post-surgery care.

UNICEF says more than 14,000 Palestinian school-age children have been displaced to Egypt since the war began. Human Rights Watch says many refugee and asylum-seeking families in Egypt face barriers to education, including residency requirements, registration hurdles and limited access to free public schooling.

In Gaza, UN agencies estimate that about 98 percent of schools are damaged or destroyed. Most of the territory's roughly 658,000 school-age children have had little or no regular classroom learning for more than two academic years.