How Many of the Girls Could Be Found?
In June 2023, just months before the escalation of violence in Gaza, fifteen schoolgirls gathered with their mathematics teacher for a group photograph outside their school in Gaza City. The image captured a moment of normalcy, with the girls smiling in their uniforms, unaware of the devastation that would soon follow. Three years later, Al Jazeera journalists returned to Gaza to trace the fate of these teenagers, seeking to understand how their lives had been altered by the ongoing conflict. The search revealed a harrowing reality: only three of the original fifteen girls had survived and were able to participate in a recreated photograph, while others had been killed, injured, or displaced.
The original photograph was taken during a rare period of relative calm in mid-2023, when schools were still functioning and families hoped for stability. The girls, aged between 13 and 15, attended a UN-run school in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City. Their mathematics teacher, who organized the photo, described it as a simple celebration of completing a difficult exam. However, the outbreak of hostilities in October 2023 shattered that tranquility. Subsequent bombardments and ground operations destroyed much of the area, including the school building itself. Survivors recounted fleeing their homes with little more than the clothes on their backs, often losing contact with classmates and teachers in the chaos.
What Does This Photograph Now Represent?
Of the fifteen girls in the original image, Al Jazeera confirmed that three had survived and were located in southern Gaza, where many displaced families had sought refuge. One girl described losing her younger brother in an airstrike that destroyed their home, while another spoke of studying by candlelight in a tent camp. The fate of the remaining twelve remains uncertain, though relatives and neighbors indicated that several had been killed in strikes on residential areas. One girl’s father confirmed her death after identifying her body from a photograph shared by aid workers. The emotional toll on the survivors was evident, with many expressing guilt for having lived when so many peers perished.
The recreated image, taken in a makeshift classroom in Rafah, serves not as a celebration but as a testament to loss and resilience. The three surviving girls wore their old uniforms, though altered to fit their changed frames, and stood beside a photograph of their teacher, who had also been killed. They spoke of wanting to honor their friends’ memories and to remind the world that behind the statistics are individual lives—daughters, students, and dreamers. Human rights organizations have cited the case as emblematic of the disproportionate impact of conflict on children in Gaza, where over 14,000 minors have reportedly been killed since 2023 according to UN figures. The girls expressed a simple wish: to return to school and see their classmates again, a hope that grows more distant with each passing month.
What happened to the school where the photograph was taken? The school in Sheikh Radwan was severely damaged during Israeli military operations in late 2023 and has not reopened due to ongoing safety concerns and destruction of infrastructure.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are the surviving girls receiving any form of support? The three located girls are receiving basic assistance through local humanitarian groups, including psychosocial counseling and educational materials, though access to consistent aid remains limited due to border restrictions and funding shortages.
Has the original photograph been shared publicly? Al Jazeera published the original and recreated images as part of a broader report on children affected by the conflict, with consent from the survivors’ families, to highlight the human toll beyond numerical casualty counts.