Two hundred thousand students returned to school in the Gaza Strip Saturday. All United Nations schools that are cable of running after more than three weeks of bombing are open, says Adnan Abu Hasna.

“We are still functioning, we didn’t stop and have even increased some of our services,” the Relief and Works Agency spokesperson said over the phone from Gaza City.

“That doesn’t mean that we’re getting enough supplies, it’s just that we are still working around the clock.”

Abu Hasna’s colleague shouted today of the great need for all basic necessities in the Strip while tens of children are reported as having stayed home from school out of their own fear or that of their parents.

Israeli forces destroyed 24 schools in the northern Gaza Strip, 10 of which have been repaired. Out of 384 government schools, 35 were destroyed, the Ministry of Education reported in a statement. As is the case at UN schools in the West Bank, in Gaza they are operating in two shifts. However, now some have moved to three shifts per day with classrooms being crammed with more than 100 students in particularly crowded areas. Jabaliya Refugee Camp, which is oft referred to as “the most overpopulated place on the planet,” was hit severely during the bombings and continues to suffer the repercussions.

Despite these realities Abu Hasna was significantly less shaken on Thursday than he had been a week earlier when he shouted over the phone, “There is nowhere safe. You can be killed in the street or the office or at home. We are waiting for the next missile.”

Four days after the Israeli administration announced it would cease its fire Abu Hasna was at work as usual. “You know, I thought we would all be killed. And so many people were. It’s still terrible, but there is some relief because it’s not raining missiles right now.”

As far as the 50,000 Palestinians who sought refugee in UNRWA schools during the height of the major Israeli attacks, Abu Hasna told PNN that the number had decreased to 4,000 and alternative shelter was being found.

“We are paying rental vouchers for some people if they can prove that they were renting, we will pay their rent so that they can get new places.” Price gouging was a facet of the siege on the Strip preceding the Israeli operation and remains in tact today. The new shade, however, is in the rental market after the massive destruction that left tens of thousands of homes uninhabitable.

As the Israeli administration demands approval of reconstruction, including of supplies banned during the year and a half siege, the UNRWA says it will continue to serve the refugees who were targeted along with all one and a half million residents of the Strip.

The winter break for students was marred by the devastation about which the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said today psychological concerns are pressing for youth and adults.

Two more bodies were found under the rubble last night, this time in the presidential offices that were destroyed by Israeli warplanes. The death toll from the major attacks has now reached 1,334 Palestinians. With 34 health facilities entirely destroyed, as estimated by the UN’s OCHA, and the ban on medical imports still in tact, medical sources in the Strip said on Saturday that tens of people among the approximately 5,400 injured will die.

Among the damage that international agencies who were finally allowed in by the Israeli adminstration yesterday are expressing “shock” and “concern” over had already been done due to previous Israeli attacks and the ban on materials to repair them. Among those issues are the sewage running into the streets and the lack of medical supplies in the hospitals.

Abu Hasna told PNN that despite UNRWA efforts, the Gaza Strip is still facing a shortage of food, water and electricity, as was the case before the pummeling that is estimated to require two billion dollars to physically repair.