My name is Tamer, and I am the first student to defend a master’s thesis inside a tent during the war on Gaza. My defense was widely shared on social media and covered by many media outlets; the photo you are using as your cover image is from that very moment.

 

That experience was not just an academic event — it was a testament to endurance, resilience, and faith in education amid destruction. The university buildings had been reduced to rubble, the libraries burned, and many students and professors displaced or killed. Yet, we refused to let the voice of learning be silenced.

 

I defended my thesis in a simple tent, set up amid ruins — a fragile space that became, for me, a symbol of dignity and the will to live. I worked under constant bombardment, with no electricity, poor internet, fear, and grief over lost colleagues. Still, I completed my research and carried it through to the end.

 

My message to the world is this: education in Gaza is not a luxury; it is an act of resistance. We study, write, and defend our theses under fire because we believe that knowledge cannot be bombed, and that learning is our way to affirm life against annihilation.