Gaza: Top of the class in the national baccalaureate exam despite bombs and mourning, the heroic story of Saba Rabah

Despite the destruction of her home in Gaza, multiple displacements and the death of her father, 18-year-old Saba Rabah excelled in the high school graduation exams in the Palestinian Territories — the first to be held since October 2023.

Shortly before the exams, she even had to flee her temporary accommodation, located in the Al-Maghazi refugee camp, following the bombing of a neighboring house. But it would take more than that to break the young girl's determination.

Saba Rabah achieved the highest grade in the science stream of the final secondary school exam, equivalent to the baccalaureate, known as "Tawjihi".

“I obtained a score of 99.9%, securing first place nationally in the science stream,” she proudly told AFP, dressed in her graduation gown, during a ceremony held in her honor in Maghazi, in the center of the Gaza Strip.

Following the attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas on October 7, 2023, Israel launched a large-scale offensive in the Palestinian territory, where a large majority of schools were damaged or destroyed by bombing, depriving tens of thousands of children of access to education.

The few schools still standing have been transformed into overcrowded reception centers to house hundreds of thousands of displaced families.

“The repeated displacements, the fear… Our house destroyed. I lost half of my books, but I never gave up on my goals,” explains Saba Rabah, who studied at night by the light of her mobile phone due to the power cuts.

“And a few days before the exams, the house across the street was bombed and we had to abandon everything to leave,” she adds.

Approximately 89,000 students took secondary school exams in June, a first since the start of the conflict almost three years ago, organized simultaneously in Gaza, the occupied West Bank, Egypt and other countries hosting the Palestinian diaspora.

More than 25,000 candidates were registered in the science stream, in which young Rabah obtained the best result.

"An indescribable joy"

Upon the announcement of the results, Saba Rabah's family and neighbors erupted in joy, applauding and congratulating the young girl. Young men danced to the rhythm of drums.

“This joy is indescribable. I expected her to be among the best students, but she became the first in all of Palestine. It is a feeling impossible to express with words,” said her mother, Feryal Ahmed Rabah, 52, after months of pain and hardship for the family.

Saba Rabah dedicated her success to her father, a former teacher in UNRWA (the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees) schools, who was killed in an airstrike in June 2024.

Flowers were placed in tribute in front of his portrait hanging on the wall.

Today, the student aspires to enter medical school: "My greatest hope is that my efforts will be recognized and that I will obtain a scholarship. That was the dream my father had for me."