Gaza's young tech innovators persevere despite devastated infrastructure

In a classroom in Deir el-Balah, a group of teenagers bent over a table scattered with Arduino circuit boards, wires, and sensors—the bare minimum needed to learn robotics. Three years of bombing have left Gaza's technology sector in ruins, but these students are trying to keep pace with the world anyway.

Hamza al-Atrash, sixteen, is one of them. He and his classmates in the Next Gen Team: Rising Robotics Engineer Project are learning to integrate sensors into alarm systems, to understand how motors work, to write code on programmable boards. The work is practical: the early-warning systems they're building could one day detect gas leaks or fires, or help rescue workers reach people trapped under collapsed buildings. It is also, in a very real sense, an act of defiance against the conditions surrounding them.

Before October 2023, Gaza had a functioning technology sector. It was one of the few bright spots in the enclave's economy, a source of foreign income and employment for thousands of university graduates in a place where jobs were scarce. Five technology incubators provided training, mentoring, and workspace for startups. Students had schools and universities where they could develop skills. That infrastructure is now largely gone. Seventeen higher education institutions have been completely or partially destroyed. The Government Media Office estimates direct losses to the education sector at approximately four billion dollars. About 620,000 high school students and 90,000 university students have been prevented from continuing their studies. Twenty thousand students and 830 teachers and educational staff have been killed, along with 194 scientists, academics, and researchers.

The collapse of the sector has been total. According to Ahmad Abu Qamar, an economic affairs specialist with the Palestinian Economists Syndicate, the IT industry now operates at less than 25 percent of its pre-war capacity. More than 70 percent of IT companies have completely or partially halted operations. About 30,000 IT professionals have lost their jobs. Equipment prices—computers, servers, routers, fiber-optic lines—have increased by more than 600 percent because of the difficulty of importing goods during Israel's ongoing siege. General unemployment in Gaza is now nearly 80 percent. Poverty exceeds 90 percent.

Yet the students keep showing up. Hamza told Al Jazeera that the shortage of equipment will not stop them. "It pushes us to look for solutions and make the most of the simple tools we have," he said. Bahaa al-Masri, head of the training team for the Early Warning Systems and Robotics Project, sees in these young people a generation with genuine passion and talent. "They need the environment and tools to develop these abilities and turn their ideas into projects that can serve their community and their future," he said.

The damage to Gaza's technology infrastructure extends beyond destroyed buildings and killed teachers. The destruction of internet and electricity networks has crippled the ability of companies to function at all. Only two of the five main technology incubators have resumed operations since the October 2025 ceasefire, and neither has managed to exceed 20 percent of its pre-2023 capacity. Just 1 percent of technology companies now have offices. Only 10 percent of business incubators have operational workspace.

Perhaps most damaging is the brain drain. According to Abdullah Altahrawi, a technology and digital economy expert with the UCAS Technology Incubator, more than 80 percent of highly skilled and experienced professionals in technology and digital fields have left Gaza. Those who remain face a landscape where rebuilding seems almost impossible—where the tools are scarce, the infrastructure is broken, and the people who know how to fix it have mostly gone.

But in Deir el-Balah, the lesson continues. The students are learning what they can with what they have, holding onto skills and ambitions in the hope that when the bombs stop falling, there will be something left to build with. Whether Gaza's technology sector can recover depends on whether young people like Hamza can stay, and whether the world will help restore the infrastructure they need to turn their ideas into something real.