Gaza’s Gen Z Defies Two Years of Israeli Genocide, Achieving Remarkable Secondary Exam Results
Gaza (QNN)- On Thursday, the Palestinian Ministry of Education announced the results of around 30,000 students born in 2007 who sat for the secondary education certificate exams, known in Palestine as Tawjihi, in the Gaza Strip.
This marks the second release of Tawjihi results since the Israeli genocide began on October 7, 2023.
Students across Gaza achieved remarkable academic results despite enduring two years of immense pressure, sleepless nights, continuous Israeli bombardment, and a suffocating aid blockade.
The exams were held entirely online to overcome severe infrastructure challenges after the destruction of 27 schools and the killing of more than 16,000 students and 750 teachers.
They Excelled Even in the Face of Genocide
Malak Ashour sat in her living room in the besieged Gaza Strip, her eyes fixed on her mobile phone as she waited for the results of her final school examinations. Family members surrounded her, eagerly refreshing their phones to see the outcomes.
As the results began to appear, Malak’s score came through: 93 percent, prompting cheers and applause from her relatives.
“We come here to celebrate your success and sing for you,” they chanted, a well-known song traditionally played after Tawjihi results are announced in Palestine.
Malak could hardly believe she had done so well, given everything she had endured over the past two years leading up to the exams.
Like nearly 30,000 other Tawjihi students, she had survived relentless Israeli bombardment, a severe aid blockade, and repeated forced displacement, living in tents without electricity, food, or a proper environment for studying.
Malak was displaced at least eight times from her home in Gaza City’s Tel Al-Hawa neighborhood. Throughout the two-year assault, she lived in a tent in southern Gaza.
“These two years were full of despair, destruction, starvation, and bombardment. I will never forget what we went through,” Malak told Quds News Network.
“There were no books, not even the energy to study. We lived in constant fear, fear of death, fear of more displacement, fear for an unknown future, and fear that everything we studied might go to waste.”
When a ceasefire took effect on October 10, Malak’s family returned to their destroyed home, which had been bombed by Israeli forces at least twice.
“My celebration was in the middle of our ruined home, surrounded by overcrowded tents,” she added.
Duha Nazmi Abu Dalal, a Tawjihi student from the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, scored 96.7% in her final high school exams.
She was a symbol of determination, dreaming of a bright future, but that dream was cut short at the end of October, after Israel breached the ceasefire agreement and carried out a massacre that claimed her life along with 18 members of her family.
The student Doha Abu Dalal achieved a score of 96.7% in her high school exams. She dreamed of a moment of joy after all the massacres, blood, and killing. There was still hope—but Israel refused to grant her the joy of success. It violated the ceasefire agreement and killed her… pic.twitter.com/gO6VQn8c0J
— Omar Hamad | عُـمَـرْ 𓂆 (@OmarHamadD) November 13, 2025
The daughter of Palestinian journalist Hussam al-Masri, who was killed in an Israeli attack on Nasser Hospital on August 25, also excelled in the exams, achieving 92.3%.
«في غزة، حتى الفرح يأتي مبللًا بالدموع».
شذا المصري، ابنة الصحفي الشهيد حسام المصري، حققت معدل 92.3 محققة حلم والدها.
أهدت نجاحها لروحه ولأمها الصابرة التي واصلت المسيرة. pic.twitter.com/S4XCQU92Eg— Ramy Abdu| رامي عبده (@RamAbdu) November 13, 2025
For Nour Eyad, her success came only after months of deep sadness and sorrow following an Israeli attack that killed her younger brother.
Nour told Quds News Network, “I thank Allah for giving me the strength to study and achieve high results. I studied amid the ruins, in a tent, at a time when there was no food and no internet. The situation was miserable for months, and Israel’s killing of my brother made everything even harder.”
“I dedicate this success to my brother’s soul.”
Nour continued, “I remember wishing I could have a piece of chocolate or a bit of chicken when I was exhausted from studying, while the bombing was happening so close above our heads. There were many challenges, but we overcame them.”
While Aya Hneif succeeded in her exams, achieving a score of 95.3, she told Quds News Network that her success feels incomplete.
“Our city of Rafah is still under Israeli control. We know nothing about our homes; the city has been completely destroyed. My cousin was killed in an Israeli attack while sitting in his bed, without posing any threat. We are still trying to recover from this.”
Israel has waged a two-year genocidal war in Gaza, killing more than 69,000 Palestinians and destroying over 81 percent of all structures. Nearly the entire population of the Gaza Strip has also been displaced.
Rights groups, including Amnesty International, B’Tselem and Human Rights Watch, have accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. In September, an independent United Nations commission of inquiry also concluded that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.
