When 24-year-old Amira Al-Khatib arrived in the Netherlands from Gaza last week to begin her master's degree at Radboud University, the joy of finally reaching safety and the sorrow of leaving home collided.

"I am so grateful to everyone who supported me and yet, leaving Gaza was one of the hardest moments I have ever experienced," she told DW from her new home in the town of Nijmegen.

Al-Khatib graduated with a bachelor's degree in computer systems engineering from Gaza's Al-Azhar University in 2025. "For the past two years, I studied in an environment where internet connectivity could not be taken for granted," she said.

The only place where she could get an internet signal was on the roof of her house. "I completed my graduation project with drones flying overhead, placing my hand over my heart every few minutes, hoping I would survive long enough to finish it," she recalled.

"Engineers who have experienced war understand, perhaps better than anyone else, what our communities actually need," she said. "That's why I chose to continue my education in data science and artificial intelligence. My dream is to help build technological systems that remain reliable even during humanitarian crises and emergencies."

Mohammad Herzallah, a 20-year-old engineering student, also left Gaza last Monday to enroll at The Hague University of Applied Sciences. "Before the war, I never imagined leaving Gaza," he told DW.

"When bombs were falling, I stopped thinking about studies or my career," he said. He had hoped to resume studies in Gaza after the war. "But the situation only worsened, so I applied abroad even though I did not want to leave my family."

Students face many 'bureaucratic obstacles'

Both students received scholarships through the Gazan Student Support Network (GSSN), an Amman-based NGO established in January 2024 to help students from Gaza continue their higher education.

"There are so many bureaucratic obstacles, and every country has its own challenges," said GSSN Executive Director Mabrookah Heneidi. In the Netherlands, for example, securing approval for the students took over eight months and involved court cases brought by universities.

For 62 other Palestinian students with Malaysian scholarships, their date of departure remains uncertain. "They have obtained transit approval from Jordan but cannot leave Gaza because Malaysia does not have diplomatic relations with Israel," said Heneidi.

She explained that all student departures must pass through the Kerem Shalom crossing on Gaza's border with Israel. So far, however, the Israeli military body responsible for coordinating civilian affairs in Gaza, COGAT, has not responded to requests to approve the students' departure.

When asked by DW, COGAT's spokespeople said in a written statement that "the departure of residents from the Gaza Strip is subject to the submission of a request by a third country willing to receive the individual, as well as the completion of the required security screening by the competent Israeli authorities. The vast majority of requests submitted are approved."

In their statement, COGAT added that since the beginning of the war nearly 50,000 Gaza Strip residents have departed for third countries for various reasons, including medical treatment, foreign citizenship, residency visas, and academic studies.

COGAT didn't provide any details about the permits for the students with scholarships from Malaysia.

UN warns of 'systemic obliteration' of Gaza's schools 

During the war, which was triggered by the Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023, most of Gaza's 88,000 university students enrolled in the 2022-23 academic year saw their education upended. Alongside widespread death, repeated displacement and a prolonged humanitarian crisis, many also lost their academic and personal records as much of Gaza's higher education system was destroyed.

In April 2024, UN experts warned of the "systemic obliteration" of Gaza's education system. "With more than 80% of schools in Gaza damaged or destroyed, it may be reasonable to ask if there is an intentional effort to comprehensively destroy the Palestinian education system, an action known as 'scholasticide'," the experts said.

This past June, the UN updated this figure in its latest report. "As of November 2025, 95% of campuses have been affected: 22 campuses out of 38 are completely destroyed, and an additional 14 campuses have sustained different levels of damage."

In an October 2025 report, UNESCO estimated that about 745,000 schoolchildren and students in Gaza had been out of school since October 2023. "The prospect of resuming education remains highly uncertain due to the extensive damage to Gaza's educational infrastructure," it said.

Meanwhile, online courses and limited in-person classes have resumed at Gaza's largest universities, including Al-Azhar University and the Islamic University of Gaza.

No official enrollment figures exist, but deans say numbers appear higher than in 2022-23.

Despite war, many students never stopped learning

The war in Gaza also significantly impeded Ahmad Zohair Abu Daqqa's education. "The war took everything, but I kept my laptop — my only tool to keep learning," the 20-year-old told DW.

During the two years of war, and despite multiple displacements, his daily routine was to leave the family tent in the morning and search for internet and electricity. "Sometimes I found a signal in the corner of a destroyed building, or in a hospital kitchen, or next to a broken streetlight pole," he said, adding that none of these places were safe, and moving between them was dangerous. "But connection to the world was the only way I could continue my education."

He not only earned top marks in high school during the war, but also "completed more than 15 professional online courses after downloading them wherever I could," he said. His family supported and encouraged him throughout. "They always said this is the only way forward," he said.

Despite his efforts, Abu Daqqa feels stuck. "I contacted more than 200 academics and sent over 1,000 messages to universities and organizations around the world. So far, no door has opened," he said.

He still hopes for a scholarship abroad to study engineering and practice creative design, join competitions and continue building his future.

"My story is personal, but it reflects the reality of an entire generation of students in Gaza who refuse to surrender," he said.

Edited by Ben Knight