Palestinian medical student Aseel Abu Haddaf was due to graduate medical school in Gaza this year but instead she is living in a tent as her home and her university lie in rubble from Israeli air strikes, wondering if she will ever become a doctor.

Israel’s bombardment in Gaza, triggered by a Hamas attack on Oct 7 that killed more than 1,200 people, has uprooted every vestige of normal life in the tiny, crowded enclave and killed about 25,000 Palestinians according to local health authorities.

For students like Abu Haddaf the future is even more uncertain than for most, not knowing if their hard years of study will now count for anything or if what remains of the university still has any record of their academic progress.

“Medicine has been my ambition ever since I was young. As a child I always used to see myself as a doctor because of the situation we live in Gaza,” Abu Haddaf said, adding that the devastation of the conflict had made her yet more determined to achieve that goal.

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