On May 10th the Belgian Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Didier Reynders, has visited the Gaza strip as part of his visit to the Palestinian Territory. During this visit he has inaugurated the rehabilitation of the Subhi Aby Karsh Primary School in Shajaiya. The rehabilitation was supported by Belgium through its budget support to education, implemented by the Belgian Development Agency (BTC).

During the Gaza war in 2014, about 230 schools in Gaza were damaged and 26 schools were totally destroyed. The Subhi Aby Karsh Primary School was severely damaged. There were gaping holes in the classroom walls, doors and windows were blasted, the ceilings were collapsed, equipment was damaged and there was heavy fire damage in classrooms.

After the war, the Ministry of Education started to repair the damage with financial support of the Joint Financing Arrangement – JFA. The JFA is a basket fund to support the education sector in the Palestinian Territory and is supported by Belgium, Finland, Germany, Ireland and Norway. In total, the JFA funded the rehabilitation of 109 damaged schools in Gaza after the war of 2014.