Tears, devastation as Gaza children back to school
Palestinian boys walk past buildings that were destroyed by Israeli
strikes on their way to school in the Shujaiyeh neighborhood of
Gaza City on September 14, 2014.(AFP/Mahmud Hams)
GAZA CITY (AFP) -- As hundreds of thousands of Palestinian children returned to school in Gaza on Sunday, Azhar recited a poem eulogizing her father, killed by Israeli shelling in the enclave's recent conflict.
"Daddy, what can I tell you, if I say I love you it's not enough," the nine-year-old, who was beginning the fourth grade, read to a classroom of teary children.
"Today is the first day of school, so even though my dad was martyred in the war -- I'm happy," she told AFP with a smile.
Azhar, her classmates and half a million other children in Gaza were going back to school after a three-week delay caused by the 50-day conflict that ravaged the enclave and left more than 2,140 Palestinians dead.
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