Hope Amid the Crisis: Gaza Teen Proves Resilience Can Overcome War
MAGHAZI, Palestinian Territories — Just days before her final secondary school examinations, the house opposite the temporary home where 18-year-old Saba Rabah was living in central Gaza was bombed. She and her family fled, leaving behind everything they had.
Yet against overwhelming odds, Rabah emerged as the top-ranked student in the science stream of the Palestinian national high school exams, known as Tawjihi — the first to be held in the territory since the war erupted in October 2023.
“I achieved a score of 99.9 percent, ranking first in the nation in the science stream,” Rabah told AFP, dressed in her graduation gown as relatives and neighbors gathered to celebrate in Al-Maghazi refugee camp.
Her path to success was eked out through two years of war. Her father, a teacher at UNRWA schools, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in June 2024. The family’s home was demolished in January 2024, and they were displaced so many times she could no longer remember the exact number.
“We lost our home a few days before the exams because the house across from us was bombed,” she said. Power cuts and Internet outages made studying even more difficult, with her often studying by the light of a mobile phone torch.
Around 89,000 students sat the examinations this year, including more than 25,000 in the science stream. Rabah dedicated her achievement to her late father, mother, siblings, and teachers.
“My ambition is to enter medical school … the dream that my father had for me,” she said.
Her mother, Feryal Ahmed Rabah, 52, said the joy was indescribable after months of grief and hardship. “God blessed us by bringing joy back into our hearts through her outstanding achievement, despite the difficult circumstances,” she told AFP.
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