Gaza City – September 20, 2025 – In most parts of the world, the high school class of 2023 has already graduated, moved on to university, and begun shaping their futures. But in Gaza, thousands of students have only just sat for their final exams – under relentless bombardment, famine, and displacement.
The Ministry of Education, after multiple postponements, finally announced exams would be held online on September 6 via the WiseSchool app – in the middle of Israel’s latest offensive on Gaza City. For many students, getting to exam centres or securing internet access required risking their lives.
Studying Between Air Raids
For 19-year-old Tawfiq Abu Dallal, the journey to graduation was marked by personal tragedy. On the morning of his exam, he learned that his brother and cousin had been wounded in an air strike. He ran three kilometres to the hospital, saw them alive, and then hurried back to the exam hall – 30 minutes late.
“I couldn’t focus on my answers,” he said. “I just wanted to finish and go back to them.”
Abu Dallal’s determination was fuelled by his late grandmother, Sameha, who guarded his study sessions in a crowded displacement shelter. She was killed in an Israeli strike just weeks before exams began. “Her loss shattered my heart,” he said. “But I decided to persevere – for her.”
Panic Attacks and Goodbyes
For Malak al-Qishawi, 19, every trip to sit an exam felt like a final goodbye to her parents. Her family gave her survival instructions before she left: change routes if the streets looked empty, lie flat if a bomb struck nearby, and stay put if Israeli troops advanced.
Her brother Abdulrahman, her greatest supporter, was killed in an air strike in July 2024. “I couldn’t study for months after his death,” she said. “But I wanted to bring some happiness back into my family’s life through my future success.”
Despite the trauma, Qishawi dreams of studying architecture. She says remote work may be her only option in Gaza, where offices are often destroyed during Israeli assaults.
Studying in Tents
Aya Draimli, 18, fled Gaza City with her family during Israel’s ground invasion in late 2023. They spent months living in a tent in al-Zawaida, where she struggled to revise in suffocating summer heat and freezing winter cold.
“I studied from 10 am until sunset because after dark, there was no light,” she said. “At night, my father held a phone torch so I could practise questions.”
She has dreamed of becoming a gynaecologist since childhood. “My family calls me Doctor Aya,” she smiled. “They’re my greatest motivation.”
A Generation Under Fire
For Gaza’s class of 2023, graduating is not just an academic milestone but a form of defiance. They studied through bombardment, hunger, and repeated displacement, determined to keep hold of their dreams.
But their futures remain uncertain. Homes and schools have been destroyed, scholarships are scarce, and safe passage abroad is rare. Still, these students insist on pushing forward.
“All I want is for this war to end,” Qishawi said. “We deserve the chance to live and study like other young people in the world.”
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