I am supposed to be in my sixth and final year of medical school at al-Azhar University in Gaza – I was supposed to be called Dr Manar in a couple of months’ time. Instead, my education in Gaza has been put on hold. Israel’s genocidal onslaught has ravaged our home and left me and thousands of others struggling to finish our studies. I endured five months of fleeing and displacement.
In Gaza, our mornings once began with the sound of school bells and the laughter of children chasing each other as they lined up for morning exercises. But now, the mornings are shattered by deafening bombs. Instead of lining up for school, young children stand in lines for drinking water, hoping to survive another day.
At the end of March this year, a report estimated that almost 90% of school buildings in Gaza had been damaged or destroyed. The situation today is probably even worse. Over the summer, Israel bombed several schools used as shelters. The aftermath of the bombing of two school buildings in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood in August was a scene of horror – children’s bodies lay lifeless, their innocence and potential reduced to mere “collateral damage”. ….more
