At least 42 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli attacks on the Shati refugee camp and the Tuffah neighbourhood in Gaza, the head of Gaza’s Government Media Office told Al Jazeera.
Up to 39,000 senior high school students in the Gaza Strip should be sitting very important exams at the moment, called tawjihi, which would enable them to enrol in higher education.
But due to the ongoing Israeli military assault, students such as Doaa al-Zaanin can only hope for the war to end so that they can go back to school.
“Before the war started, I was studying. I worked really hard,” al-Zaanin, from Beit Hanoon, told Al Jazeera. “I had my lessons and then would go home, revise, do extra lessons and exams with special teachers.”
Since the war started in October, the majority of Gaza’s schools and universities have been destroyed, including al-Zaanin’s.
“Our future is gone. Our education is gone. But I won’t give up. I’m continuing with my studies. I study in my shelter which is a school.”
Sam Rose, director of planning for UNRWA, says the fact that approximately 39,000 students are unable to sit the territory’s General Secondary Examinations, known as the tawjihi, is “poignant” and “sad”.
“It’s yet another layer of sadness that the population has gone through,” he said, adding that the act of preparing for and taking these exams, which were due to start today, was a “right of passage”.
“More than half a million who’ve been deprived of education for more than eight months, but I do agree it’s important that we focus today on those who aren’t sitting able to sit their exams,” he said.
Rose added that there are no facilities in Gaza capable of hosting students for the exams.
“We’ve [UNRWA] got about 300 schools in Gaza. Almost two-thirds of them have been damaged or destroyed,” he said, adding that the schools that haven’t been destroyed are being used to shelter displaced people.
“Unfortunately, these places, as we know, are not always safe. Five hundred people to date have been killed inside UNRWA schools.”
