we are not numbers
emerging writers from Palestine tell their stories and advocate for their human rights
The life of an exceptional student has been torn apart by siege, occupation, and war. God willing, inshallah, he will persevere.
Mohammad’s goal was to enter the Faculty of Engineering at Al-Azhar University. Photo: Al-Azhar University Faculty of Engineering
Mohammad Al-Khaldi, now 18 years old, is from Jabalia in northern Gaza. He was a brilliant student, consistently achieving excellent grades. He was also popular with his classmates and his teachers alike. At the end of middle school, in 2020, he was top of his class.
“I stood on the school stage, my eyes fixed on my father and mother. I could see their pride in my achievement. My teacher had asked me to deliver the valedictorian speech, and I chose to dedicate it to my mother, who surrounded me with prayers, and to my father, who supported, encouraged, and helped me in my studies.”
Mohammad dreamed of becoming an engineer. His father, an architect, used to help him with his mathematics. His future was bright. But on the morning of October 7, 2023, as he prepared to go to school, the sound of missiles stopped him in his tracks.
“When I heard the bombing, I felt as if my world was slipping away. With every strike, my fear grew—fear of losing my family, my friends, and my dream of completing high school with distinction and becoming an engineer.”
His family, like thousands of others, was forced into displacement. They moved several times—between schools-turned-shelters, hospitals-turned-shelters, and relatives’ homes.
The Israeli army destroyed Mohammed’s family’s home at the end of 2023. Mohammed would constantly think about that house and the bedroom he loved so much, with all of his books, notebooks, and accomplishments. Not only did they destroy his home, they also destroyed his school, leaving him with only memories of his teachers and classmates.
Despite the war and all of the suffering around him, Mohammad refused to abandon his dream. In early 2024, after being displaced to southern Gaza, he settled in Al-Mawasi, Khan Younis. Despite poverty and a lack of food, he persevered. He managed to print his own schoolbooks. This was expensive—costing more than $60—because of the scarcity of paper, which had not been imported since October 7, 2023. But this was his priority, as much as staying alive. So he did what he could and joined private tutoring sessions.
“Despite our dire financial situation, I printed out the books and attended lessons, determined to achieve my dream.”
Since the beginning of the war, formal education for Gazans had ceased, as the Israeli army destroyed schools and universities through its devastating airstrikes that targeted civilian infrastructure. Learning shifted to individual efforts—private lessons for those who could pay, and makeshift classrooms in tents offering free classes.
“I didn’t know when the high school exams would be held, but I studied diligently, wishing for the war to end, for life to return, and for the chance to sit my exams and get the grades I needed to study engineering at Al-Azhar University.”
For Mohammad, studying at Al-Azhar University had become a childhood dream after he visited on a school trip. He remembers: “We toured each of the faculties—Education, Arts, Law, Sharia, Nursing—but when we reached the Faculty of Engineering and I saw the designs and geometric models, my heart raced. In that moment, I wished I could fast-foward in time and become an engineer right away.”
Eventually, when displaced families began returning to northern Gaza, Mohammad and his family moved back to Jabalia. They lived in a tent at a displacement shelter because their home had been destroyed. “Despite everything, I felt at peace. I was back in the place where I had lived all my life.”
But in mid-May 2025, the family was forced to flee yet again, as the shelling intensified. “All the houses around us were bombed. The artillery fire became unbearable. We left behind our clothes, the little food we had—everything. We fled with nothing but our lives, heading west.”
His father searched desperately for shelter until he found a modest 12-square-meter space in a street in western Gaza. Hunger tormented them, like countless other families.
In July 2025, after three days without food, Mohammad decided to go to one of the American aid distribution points in southern Gaza, hoping to find some flour to feed his family.
But as crowds gathered in desperate search of food, an Israeli quadcopter opened fire on the starving civilians. A bullet struck Mohammad in the neck, paralyzing him instantly.
“I didn’t feel the bullet as it pierced my neck,” he said. “I only woke up in the hospital, with my parents weeping beside me. Seeing their tears filled me with dread and I asked why they were crying, but they could not answer. When I tried to sit up, I couldn’t. At that moment, I felt an unbearable sense of helplessness. I wished the bullet had pierced my heart and ended my life, rather than leave me with this disability.”
Last month, Gaza’s high school students began taking their mock exams online, preparing for their final exams in the coming weeks. But for Mohammad, his injury stood as a cruel barrier. He had lost his ability to move, to walk, and to live freely. He was unable to continue his studies.
He now spends all his days in the hospital, hoping to receive treatment, instead of pursuing his dream of finishing his studies and becoming an engineer. All because his tried to feed his starving family.
Mohammed’s story is not unique. There are many tens of thousands of Gazans whose lives have been torn apart as a result of the occupation and ongoing genocide. Israel, through war and siege, is trying to crush the ambitions of young Palestinians who dare to dream.
