Tens of thousands of Palestinian children returned to United Nations-run schools Wednesday after the summer holidays, though major U.S. cuts have thrown their funding into jeopardy beyond next month.
Children wearing checkered uniforms and backpacks thronged schools across Palestine for the first classes of the new school year, AFP correspondents reported.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees said all 711 schools it runs for 526,000 pupils in Gaza and the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria would reopen in the next few days despite the $300 million U.S. funding cut. UNRWA schools will open in Lebanon Monday.
