Books, flashlights, and rubble: Gaza’s high schoolers take exams in a war zone

Thousands of students took part in the exams earlier this month, nearly two years after repeated postponements.

According to Middle East Eye, the delay was caused by Israel’s ongoing assault on Gaza, during which the tests had already been interrupted twice. In the end, the exams were conducted online under heavy Israeli bombardment. Some students were even targeted and killed on their way to designated internet centers.

For many, preparing for the exams meant struggling to survive daily airstrikes, hunger, and repeated displacement.

One student, the eldest child of an eight-member family, said he had once dreamed of becoming a journalist, but since the outbreak of war in October 2023, his days were consumed with gathering firewood, waiting in aid lines, fetching water, and helping his family evacuate.

“Sometimes Israeli tanks were shelling just a few kilometers away. I wasn’t sure I’d live long enough to graduate, but I kept studying,” he said. He recalled losing relatives in an airstrike near a school in August, adding: “Despite everything, I kept studying for my family. I would stay up late at night under the light of a phone flashlight, studying under Israeli bombardment and drone strikes.”

Another student described going to the exam center as if bidding farewell to her family. “My parents gave me survival instructions: if the streets are empty, change direction; always ask people if it’s safe to continue,” she said. She hopes to study architecture and work online after the war, believing remote jobs are safer in Gaza where internet offices are often destroyed and connectivity is unreliable.

“Many people around the world think we just need scholarships to study,” she added. “They don’t realize many of us cannot abandon our suffering families. As a young woman, a student, and a citizen of Gaza, the only thing I want is for this war to end now.”

Another student said repeated displacements left him without access to his books, nor could he afford new ones. He borrowed from friends and relied on note-taking to prepare for the exams. His family hopes he will study medicine and specialize in gynecology — they have called him ‘Doctor’ since childhood.

“I wish NGOs could negotiate safe zones for students during exams,” he said, “but Israel doesn’t want us to learn.”