Gaza after two years of war ^{CEFR B2}

Two years of conflict left wide damage across Gaza, and a ceasefire deal now comes into effect. Early reporting documented a humanitarian collapse after water, electricity and fuel were cut and checkpoints closed to aid trucks. Families slept on hospital grounds without water, food or power, and displaced people often relied on canned food. More than 2 million residents were deprived of basic necessities.

Amid the destruction, local and small-scale scientific work tried to reduce suffering. Residents repurposed bombed solar panels and recycled spent batteries to power devices, and some converted plastic waste into fuel despite clear environmental and health risks. SciDev.Net highlighted desalination projects led by engineers such as Adi Al-Daghma to provide clean water. Young engineer Yousef Abu Rabie began a grassroots effort to revive farming with salvaged seeds and artificial soil made from tree waste, but he was killed in an Israeli airstrike in October 2024. The Palestinian Union of Agricultural Work Committees sent indigenous seed samples to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway for protection. Two months into the war, satellite images showed farmland stripped and soil erosion visible; experts warned soil recovery could take five to seven years if international aid arrived.

Health and education systems also collapsed: hospitals were damaged, sewage overflowed in displaced communities, and reports recorded hepatitis A and widespread diarrhoea with dwindling antibiotics. The UN classified the situation as a famine, with more than half a million people facing starvation. Aid came in small amounts, and some grassroots groups attempted to deliver food across the sea with limited success. Over 90% of schools were damaged or destroyed, disrupting learning for more than 625,000 students; several universities were destroyed and more than 100 senior university staff were killed. SciDev.Net reported that artificial intelligence was used to identify targets with minimal human oversight, and experts said the targeting aimed to erode Gaza’s scientific and digital capacities.

Despite heavy losses, students and researchers continued to work in tents and shelters, often without electricity or internet. Outside Gaza, solidarity initiatives such as the Mothers of Hind project, launched by Abeer Pharaon in the UK, aim to support students and reconnect isolated universities. With the ceasefire in effect, attention now turns to aid distribution and reconstruction, and to how science, creativity and determination can help rebuild lives.