Sat Dec 13 12:40:40 UTC 2025: Gaza’s Children Forced to Beg as War Erodes Education and Hope

Gaza – A heart-wrenching surge in child begging across Gaza is signaling a deep societal collapse, exacerbated by the ongoing conflict and leaving a generation vulnerable to exploitation and despair, according to Gaza-based writer Mais Al-Reem Hussein.

Hussein recounts a recent encounter with a young girl named Nour, meaning “light” in Arabic, begging for money to buy an apple – a luxury now costing $7 in Gaza, compared to less than a dollar per kilogram before the war. Nour’s story is not unique, as countless children, orphaned or driven into poverty by the conflict, are now forced to beg for survival.

The war has decimated families and livelihoods, leaving over 39,000 children orphaned and an estimated 80% of the workforce jobless. This dire economic situation forces children onto the streets, where they face not only the loss of their childhood but also the dangers of exploitation, harsh labor, illiteracy, and severe psychological trauma.

“Child begging is not just a result of poverty; it is a sign of a deep disintegration affecting the family, the education system, and the community,” Hussein writes.

Before the war, Gaza prided itself on its robust education system, boasting high literacy rates and school enrollment. Education served as a vital counterforce to the crippling siege, fostering skills, ingenuity, and a sense of direction and security among the youth.

However, the systematic destruction of schools, universities, and libraries, coupled with the loss of educators, has brought Gaza’s once resilient education system to the brink of collapse. This erosion of education threatens to deprive the next generation of the knowledge and hope needed to rebuild Gaza in the future.

Hussein calls on the international community to redeem itself after allowing the war to persist for so long. She urges immediate action to save Gaza’s children and guarantee their fundamental rights, including food, water, healthcare, education, and protection from violence and abuse, as outlined in the Convention on the Rights of Children. Failure to do so, she argues, amounts to continued support for the “slow genocide of Gaza.”

Read More