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Welcome to Learning English, a daily 30 minute program from the voice of America.

I'm Ashley Thompson.

And I'm Mario Ritter Jr.

This program is designed for English learners.

So we speak a little slower,

and we use words and phrases especially written

for people learning English.

Today. learning English.

Today, Mario Ritter Jr. tells us how the ongoing war in Gaza is affecting schools in the territory. Jill Robbins presents this week's education report.

We close the show with today's lesson of the day from Jill Robbins and Andrew Smith. But first, the new school

year in the Palestinian territories officially began on Monday, but all schools in Gaza are closed after 11 months

of war.

There is no sign of a ceasefire.

Israel gave new orders to people in the Northern Gaza Strip to leave their homes. The order came after rockets were fired into Israel from

Gaza. Amzaki has a son, Moataz, who is 15 years old.

He was supposed to begin 10th grade. Instead, he woke up in the family's tent in dear Albala in Central

Gaza. Water is more than one kilometer away from the tent. The mother of five told Reuters by text

message, usually such a day would be a day of celebration, seeing the children in the new uniform,

going to school, and dreaming of becoming doctors and engineers.

Today all we hope is that the war ends before we lose any of them. The Palestinian Education Ministry said

all Gaza schools were closed and 90% of them had been destroyed or damaged in the war.

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