For most students, the General Secondary Education Certificate, known as Tawjihi in Palestine, marks the end of school and the start of a new chapter.

It is usually a time of celebration, relief and hope for the future.

In Gaza, nearly three years into Israel's genocide, the milestone has taken on a different meaning. For thousands of Palestinian students, simply surviving long enough to sit the exams and see the results announced became an achievement in itself.

For Saba Rabah, who topped Palestine's scientific stream with an average of 99.9 percent, the result fulfilled a childhood dream.

But the moment she had imagined for years was overshadowed by the absence of her father, who was killed in an Israeli strike on a neighbouring building in al-Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza.

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