It's a sound you wouldn't associate with war-torn Gaza: classical guitars and children singing. It's the sound of hope. 

The Edward Said National Conservatory of Music has been running strong in Gaza for more than a decade. When the conflict escalated, the group escalated too – offering regular sessions to Gazans. 

Music instructor Ismail Daoud says these sessions are a matter of life and death. 

"Music in war represents hope and an exit from the atmosphere of war," he says, guiding a group of young students through a traditional Palestinian lament on loss and despair.  

Ahmed Abu Amshar is concerned his students have been through so much in their short lives. He says the war has had a profound effect on the youngsters.

"They are not sleeping, they are crying, they are sad," he says. "So we try our best to use music therapy to heal them from the madness of this war."

Healing is hard. The group's headquarters have been destroyed, forcing them to play in ruined shelters and bombed out buildings. 

Their instruments, too, have been broken and abandoned. But their spirit remains. They fashion new instruments out of pots and pans and the show goes on. 

It's not easy. Each session, there are fewer students, as they succumb to hunger, to weakness, to war. But Suhail Khoury, the president of the conservatory, says the lessons offer hope in a dark time.

"We want them not just to heal emotionally," he says. "We have to bring them hope for the future." 

That future is anything but certain. For now though, as the voices of these youngsters sing out over the rubble, hope is all they have.