With the help of his father, 13-year-old Kenan al-Sabaa attempts to adjust his hearing aid, which has malfunctioned.
asserted
which → attempt → aid
The plastic tubing and rubber ear mould on the device need fixing, but these parts and the depleted batteries are no longer available due to Israel’s siege on the Gaza Strip.
asserted
parts → need → Strip
Before Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza started in October 2023, Kenan attended the Atfaluna Society for Deaf Children, which provided specialist teaching and opportunities to communicate with other hearing-impaired children.
asserted
which → start → children
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Israel → battle → Bank
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But Atfaluna’s building in Gaza City was partially levelled during the war and quickly turned into an overcrowded shelter for displaced people, an example of the widespread destruction of infrastructure in Gaza.
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building → stalk → Gaza
This includes the educational institutions disabled children rely upon.
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children → include → institutions
Israeli attacks also forced Kenan’s family to flee to Gaza City’s Jalaa Street.
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attacks → force → Street
Atfaluna has since set up temporary learning spaces, and Kenan has access to one near where his family now lives.
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family → set → one
But his father, Tamer al-Sabaa, said the interruptions to his learning during the war have left his son far behind in his studies.
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interruptions → say → studies
He did not attend school at all during the first year of the war, and now attends classes only for a few hours a week, which Tamer says is not enough given the time he has lost at school during the war.
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he → attend → war
But Tamer fears that if Israel resumes large-scale attacks – an October 2025 “ceasefire” reduced the number of attacks but did not stop them – he will be forced to stop Kenan from attending.
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he → fear → Kenan
“These few hours do not cover or repair the massive educational gap and academic decline my son experienced during the war,” Tamer said.
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Tamer → cover → war
“He is in dire need of restoring his equipped educational environment and the specialised care that was stripped away from him.”
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that → restore → him
“The school operates only three days a week, and for limited hours not exceeding two hours a day,” he told Al Jazeera.
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he → operate → Jazeera
“Being deaf makes Kenan’s movements fraught with danger, as he cannot hear the sounds of explosions, warning signals, or communicate with those around him.”
As a result, Tamer and his wife had to guide Kenan through unfamiliar neighbourhoods to help him learn about his surroundings.
asserted
him → make → surroundings
Kenan can now reach school independently, but his safety is always a concern for his parents.
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safety → reach → parents
Little help available
The difficulties facing Kenan highlight the effect of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, which has killed more than 74,000 Palestinians, on disabled children in the enclave.
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which → face → enclave
Fadel Kuraz, a sign language interpreter and disability rights advocate with Atfaluna, said the war has increased hearing-related injuries and severely weakened the services available to children who need support.
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who → say → support
“What we are experiencing today in the Gaza Strip represents an unprecedented health and humanitarian setback, and a real catastrophe unlike anything we have seen before,” Kuraz told Al Jazeera.
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Kuraz → experience → Jazeera
“To grasp the scale of the tragedy, the baseline number of persons with hearing disabilities registered before October 2023 was around 20,000 people.
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number → grasp → October
Today, according to field assessments, approximately 35,000 new individuals … have been added, having suffered total or partial hearing loss due to … explosions.”
uncertain
individuals → accord → explosions
Kuraz describes shortages of hearing aids, batteries, ear moulds, and spare parts, alongside major obstacles to specialist hearing tests and treatments.
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Kuraz → describe → tests
Children also face difficulties accessing visual learning materials because of electricity and communications outages, he said.
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he → face → outages
“The suffering does not stop at material needs.
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suffering → stop → needs
A deaf child suffers high levels of fear, stress and complex trauma without the ability to verbally express what is on their mind,” Kuraz told Al Jazeera.
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Kuraz → suffer → Jazeera
Hearing-impaired children in Gaza are more often than not living in overcrowded tents or shelters which lack privacy or a proper space to do homework and study.
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which → hear → homework
“I emphasise that responding to the needs of persons with hearing disabilities is no longer a secondary choice or a luxury; it is an urgent humanitarian necessity,” Kuraz adds.
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Kuraz → emphasise → disabilities
“It requires immediate intervention to break the siege, allow the entry of hearing aids, batteries, and spare parts, and establish safe, temporary alternative educational spaces to replace destroyed centres.
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It → require → centres
Children with visual impairments face issues similar to those faced by hearing-impaired children in Gaza, with the few educational facilities once available to them now closed or difficult to access.
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facilities → face → them
The materials and items they need to study, such as Braille, are also difficult to procure due to Israel’s siege on Gaza.
asserted
they → need → Gaza
Al-Noor school was originally located in Tal al-Hawa, southwest of Gaza City, but was badly damaged in the genocidal war.
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school → locate → war
Duaa Omar Basheer worked as an educational counsellor at the al-Noor school for blind students in northern Gaza before the war.
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Basheer → work → war
She said it was the only public school in Gaza designated for middle and high school students with visual impairments, but was forced to close during the war.
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it → say → war
Some primary education is available to children through educational centres run by the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.
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education → run → refugees
Previously, the school served about 80 pupils from across Gaza, many of whom arrived on dedicated buses, but damaged roads and a lack of suitable transport created further barriers.
Without regular instruction, Basheer fears students could lose their Braille and independent-learning skills, which they have taken years to learn.
uncertain
they → serve → years
“We are facing an entire generation of visually-impaired individuals at risk of illiteracy and academic loss,” Basheer said.
asserted
Basheer → face → illiteracy
In the Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, Jana Shreim’s mother, Wafaa Shreim, says her 12-year-old daughter, who is legally blind, relies on prescription glasses with high magnification and very strong lenses.
asserted
who → say → magnification
But she could still only perceive light, shapes and nearby objects.
uncertain
she → perceive → light
Her glasses broke amid the harrowing mass exodus from the Shati camp during Israel’s offensive on the neighbourhood in November 2023.
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glasses → break → November
The family tried to fix them with wire, but the lenses were damaged beyond use, and replacement glasses were too expensive.
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glasses → try → use
…and 11 more, not listed.
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