22,233 pupils registered for new school year in Gaza border area, in a 9% increase from 2023

By Sue Surkes

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31 August 2026, 1:22 pm

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Sue Surkes is The Times of Israel's environment reporter

Security forces guard outside Amit HaRoe Elementary School in Sderot, on the first day of school since the October 7th attacks, on March 3, 2024. (Liron Moldovan/ Flash90)

Illustrative: Security forces guard outside Amit HaRoe Elementary School in Sderot, on the first day of school since the October 7th attacks, on March 3, 2024. (Liron Moldovan/ Flash90)

The Tekuma Directorate, tasked with rehabilitating the Gaza border following the Hamas invasion on October 7, 2023, announces that the new school year in the Gaza border communities will open with 22,233 pupils, a nine percent increase from the start of the 2023 school year, a month ahead of the Hamas-led massacre.

Of that number, 4,553 are children between the ages of zero and three, 3,965 are kindergarteners, and 13,715 are pupils in grades 1 through 12.

In the city of Sderot, pupil numbers are up by 16%, the directorate says.

The growth reflects the ongoing return of communities to their homes after long periods evacuated to temporary accommodation while their communities were physically renovated and rebuilt.

Over 95% of residents of Kibbutz Kissufim went home this summer, and those from Kibbutz Holit and Kibbutz Kfar Aza started to return this month. Youngsters from Kibbutz Be’eri, still living in temporary accommodation in Kibbutz Hatzerim, are going back to study in Eshkol Regional Council schools. Be’eri residents are due to start going home in December.

Kibbutz Nir Oz, which only agreed on its funding package in August last year, will return sometime in 2027.