As public institutions continue to collapse under the weight of widespread destruction in Gaza, essential services such as education and electricity have increasingly shifted into private hands. Families now find themselves forced to pay for services that were once publicly provided, often at prices far beyond their means.
Since the beginning of the genocide, education in Gaza is no longer a place known for its academic excellence, with an illiteracy rate of 1.9% in 2023. Schools, once spaces for learning and stability, have turned into unsafe environments or shelters for displaced people. In this reality, education has become something to be purchased rather than a universal right. Families who can afford it turn to private tutoring, while poorer families are left facing an uncertain educational future.
Suha Alshrafi, a mother of seven living in Al-Zawaida, said her sons Omarn and Khaled take private lessons, while her daughter Sama still attends school.
“We had to rely on private tutoring because it has become essential,” Alshrafi said. “There are no good schools available, especially for sensitive age groups like primary and tawjihi [the exam students must pass to enter university]. The educational system is unorganized, classrooms are overcrowded, and the environment is not suitable for learning.”
She highlighted the deep impact on her children. “We had to rely on private tutoring because it has become essential.” “This situation is very difficult,” Alshrafi said. “Khaled is still in the foundational stage, which requires strong and structured education. Any weakness now can affect his entire academic path. Omran, on the other hand, is in the most critical stage of his life — the tawjihi — which determines his academic future. We cannot risk placing him in such an unstable system.”
But maintaining her children’s education comes at a heavy financial cost. Alshrafi said she spends about $200 per month on education, which makes it harder to afford other household needs including food or clothing. “Before the genocide, we rarely had to pay anything,” Alshrafi said. “Schools were functioning well, and if a child needed tutoring, it was for one or two subjects at a much lower cost.”
Despite all the challenges, Alshrafi is hopeful.
“We hope this situation changes significantly. It is extremely exhausting, especially for a large family like ours,” she said. “If things continue like this, we will remain trapped in the same cycle of suffering. But it is a different kind of survival: Instead of just surviving physically, we are trying to survive our children’s future.”
Mohammed Al-Jdeili, an English teacher at Khaled bin Al-Walid School, said, “The problem is huge. Schools are destroyed, and the gap between students is widening because of private tutoring. There are some free lessons and some schools have reopened, but they are not enough for everyone.”
He said the school he works in used to have 23 classrooms but became a shelter for displaced families after the genocide began.
“The rooms are now filled with people,” he said. Some education resumed at learning stations inside tents in the schoolyard. Later, some classrooms were rehabilitated, with teaching now taking place in both the classrooms and in tents.
“But there is no proper yard or sufficient educational facilities,” Al-Jdeili said.
“Unfortunately, many students may leave school forever. Education has become limited to those who can afford it. There are no equal opportunities,” he said. “Today, a large part of society is experiencing weak education and declining skills. If we do not find fair ways to learn, education in Gaza will fail, an entire generation will lose its future, and everyone will pay the price for years to come.” “We are trying to survive our children’s future.” Despite some government support, the education system still suffers from major shortages. Al-Jdeili said his school has teachers provided by the Ministry of Education, but the school day is only three or four hours long, the number of lessons is insufficient, and some subjects are not taught to their full extent.
“So students rely on private tutoring to fill the gap. However, many students cannot afford these costs, which negatively affects their learning,” he said.
Despite the destruction, some schools have attempted to resume education — such as Muscat School in Gaza City, which was hit by Israeli strikes in 2024, killing nine people sheltering inside — but the situation varies widely across regions, especially in heavily damaged or dangerous areas like Khan Younis and northern Gaza.
“The occupation attacks any attempt to return to normal life,” Al-Jdeili said. “There is also a shortage of teachers. Some were killed, others displaced. Additionally, many students and teachers cannot afford transportation to reach schools, as movement has become extremely difficult.”
Electricity crisis
When the genocide began, then-Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced “a complete siege … no electricity, no water, no food, no fuel. We are fighting human animals, and we act accordingly.” On the same day, then-Minister of Energy and Infrastructure Yisrael Katz decided to cut off the Gaza Strip’s electricity supply, and Gallant prevented the entry of any trucks carrying fuel. Since then, electricity services have almost completely stopped, forcing residents to rely on solar panels and batteries for nearly a year and a half. Over time, however, these solutions have become less effective as batteries near the end of their lifespan and solar panels fail to meet growing needs — especially after sunset or when damaged by bombardment. For students, employees and shop owners working at night, access to a continuous power source has become a necessity, especially during long winter nights. Recently in Gaza, where need drives innovation, new solutions have emerged to fill this gap. Private companies, which previously operated using gasoline-powered generators but stopped due to fuel shortages, have returned to operation in more complex and altered ways.
Ahmed Abu Zayed, public relations manager at the Sons of Fares Abu Zayed Company for Trade and Import, said the company started by aiming to provide local diesel as an alternative fuel to run generators. “We expanded our work by operating our generators to supply residential areas with electricity.” “We extracted it from melted plastic that is refined through primitive methods at our main facility, which was operating before the genocide,” Abu Zayed said. At the beginning of the genocide, the company was supplying fuel mainly for transportation vehicles.
“Later, in the middle of the genocide, we expanded our work by operating our generators to supply residential areas with electricity. Currently, we run generators using Israeli diesel, alongside locally produced fuel and other materials,” Abu Zayed said. After a trial run in the town of Al-Zawaida, overwhelming demand from residents prompted the company to expand its services across the central region and Gaza City.
However, working in this field is not without risk.
“We have faced many dangers, as the occupation does not distinguish between civilians and military targets, especially since we are providing a service to help ease people’s suffering,” Abu Zayed said. “It even reached the point where the company’s founders, Muhammed Abu Zayed and Shadi Al-Shaer were targeted while working and were killed. Others were severely injured, resulting in the amputation of Youssef Abu Zayed’s leg.”
All three were soccer players , drawing attention to Israel’s attacks on Palestinian athletes.
Beyond the dangers, cost remains the greatest challenge.
Electricity has become extraordinarily expensive. Before the genocide, the cost per kilowatt was around 80 cents. At the beginning of the ceasefire, it rose to around $5, then doubled again to about $10 per kilowatt — roughly 20 times higher than before the genocide.
Even basic usage, such as charging phones or turning on lights, has become a financial burden. A family using minimal electricity to power a refrigerator, lights and a washing machine twice a week may pay around $100 per month, while the income per capita stands at $200, according to the World Bank . Even basic usage, such as charging phones or turning on lights, has become a financial burden. “The price announced by the company is the best possible price for subscribers under these circumstances,” Abu Zayed said. He said using locally produced fuel and other materials can lead to major malfunctions in generators that require maintenance and spare parts. “Therefore, we are forced to provide the service at very high prices to keep it running, along with the high cost of spare parts and maintenance, as each maintenance operation requires a technical team at a high cost.”
Abu Zayed said he believed this system would continue even after reconstruction eventually begins in Gaza “because the main electricity network has been almost completely destroyed, and generators will remain the most realistic solution during the recovery phase.”
Electricity is no longer an easily accessible public service in Gaza, nor is education a guaranteed right. Both have become commodities — bought, negotiated and priced — while people struggle to survive, even as their ability to secure their future is taken from them.
Amid this reality, Palestinians say there is an urgent need to begin at least a second phase of recovery in Gaza, one that goes beyond temporary fixes and instead supports private companies to make their services more accessible and affordable, while also seeking sustainable solutions that restore the role of the public sector and reopen crossings to allow the flow of necessary resources. Without this, many believe the new system will remain imposed, and people will remain trapped in a harsh equation between survival and the ability to live with dignity.
The post From Public to Private: Gaza’s Genocide Economy Is Reshaping Daily Life appeared first on Truthdig .