For the first time since the 1948 Nakba, there is no joy for Gaza's high school exam results

Ever since the 1948 Nakba, the end of July was a small but important moment to celebrate in Gaza. It is the time in which exam results for high school students are released, and for many of them, their journey into adult life begins. This year, with Israel's genocidal war on Gaza, there is no joy in the besieged coastal enclave.  

Despite not being able to take the high school exams, Baraa Wadi, a Palestinian from Gaza City, listened into a press conference held by the education ministry via radio.

"On this day, I was supposed to wait for my high school results like the rest of my colleagues in the West Bank (…) but Israel killed our joy in everything in life, not just significant times like these for us," Wadi remarked to The New Arab, his voice filled with regret. 

Before this current Israeli war on Gaza, Wafaa dreamed of graduating from high school and enrolling in one of the Palestinian universities to begin her journey toward her dream of becoming an architect. 

"I always planned to achieve my future goals and be a good citizen for my community and contribute to building resorts and homes and restoring archaeological sites […] Unfortunately, everything is over. There are no longer homes, mosques, or archaeological landmarks that I might one day contribute to restoring," the 19-year-old said.

Grief overwhelms Samira al-Ghoula, a Palestinian elderly woman from the Shujaiya neighbourhood, located in the east of Gaza City.  Samira's twin sons, Mohammed and Abdul Rahman, who were supposed to take their high school exams and should be eagerly awaiting their results, were killed by an Israeli airstrike that also killed three other children in January. 

"Mohammed dreamed of becoming a surgeon, while Abdul Rahman wanted to be a physics teacher […] Today, they are both in heaven," she said. 

"Israel deliberately killed everyone, especially students, teachers, university students, and academics, to end all aspects of life in the Gaza Strip," she added. 

Not since 1948

There are at least 39,000 high school students from the Gaza Strip who were unable to take high school exams this year. Of those, 10,000 have been killed by Israel, in addition to 400 teachers, according to Amjad Borhom, the Palestinian Minister of Education. 

"Books were scattered under the rubble or were burned instead of gas, while some schools were bombed and others were turned into shelters," Borhom said during a press conference held in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank. 

Barham further noted that at least 625,000 students were unable to complete their academic year in Gaza after more than 430 schools and universities were destroyed by Israel, with the total cost of the damage estimated at around US$ 341 million.

The suspension of high school exams this year is the first time since the 1948 Nakba, in which Zionist militias ethnically cleansed Palestine and established a state in May of that year. 

Since launching a war last October, Israeli forces dropped more than 80,000 tons of explosives on Gaza — a geography of only 360 km². They have completely destroyed 150,000 housing units in Gaza, and partially destroyed more than 200,000 units, as well as put 34 hospitals out of service, according to the Palestinian government media office. 

Israeli forces have so far killed at least 39,324 Palestinians, including more than 16,000 children and about 11,000 women, according to the health ministry in Gaza.  Moreover, at least 90,830 Palestinians have been wounded by the Israeli army, while thousands remain under the rubble and on the roads, in which ambulance and rescue crews cannot reach them.