War-weary Gazans seek refuge in books amid siege

For more than a decade – due to Israel's blockade – Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip have been denied basic rights, including the right to travel.

Often described as an "open-air prison", young people are, however, trying to find a way around that by launching book reading projects.

"With the help of some friends we managed to conduct an online marketing campaign and raise funds to launch this small enlightening project that motivates children and young people to read," said Mosaab Abo Toha, a librarian.  

Earlier this year, with the help from the America linguist and philosopher Noam Chomsky, Toha established the Edward Said public library – the first English-language library in Gaza.

It is named after the late Edward Said, a Palestinian-American professor of literature, known for his work on post-colonial studies and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

TRT World's Rahul Radakrishnan has more.

International Literacy Day

While the world celebrates International Literacy Day on Friday, many schools and libraries in Gaza remain in ruins after being damaged or destroyed in the consecutive wars with Israel.  

While an estimated 750 million men and women around the world are unable to read or write, and more than 110 million children lack access to education, Gaza has a 97 percent literacy rate - one of the highest in the world even among developed countries.

With the main Erez Crossing into Israel closed and the border with Egypt also largely closed, Gazans say it is difficult to bring in more books as well as essential supplies.