The Last Day of School
Nine-year-old Ritaj Raihan returned to learning for the first time since the genocide began—only to be killed by an Israeli sniper inside a classroom tent during a declared ceasefire in Gaza.
By Ohood Nassar
Nine-year-old Ritaj Raihan had been waiting more than two years to return to school.
Like thousands of children in Gaza, her education was interrupted when the war began on October 7, 2023. When a learning tent was established on the ruins of Abu Ubaida Al-Jarrah School in the Al-Salatin area of Beit Lahia in northern Gaza, Ritaj was excited to study again. For the first time since the outbreak of the war, she would be able to sit in a classroom and continue her education.
She did not know that her return to school would also be her last journey.
On April 9, 2026, only five days after the learning tent opened, Israeli forces opened fire while children were attending class. According to witnesses, Ritaj was standing at the front of the classroom tent waiting for her notebook to be corrected when a bullet from an Israeli sniper pierced the tent and hit her.
Classmates and teachers watched in shock as she collapsed. The bullet entered through her mouth and lodged in her body, fatally wounding her.
School staff immediately attempted to save her. However, Israel’s destruction of Gaza’s infrastructure and transportation network left them with few options. Unable to find an ambulance or a functioning vehicle, they transported her using a donkey-drawn cart. Despite their efforts, she died from her injuries.
Final Journey
That morning, Ritaj’s parents had taken her to school full of hope.
“I believed Ritaj would finally return to school after being in primary school before the war,” her father said. “But on the morning she was killed, everything ended. We took her to school walking on her own feet, and she came back a lifeless body.”
When the school first contacted the family, Ritaj’s mother believed her daughter had suffered a minor injury. Minutes later, they received the news that she had died.
Inside the family tent, her mother held a dress she had recently bought for Ritaj to wear at her uncle’s wedding, which was planned for only a few days later.
“My daughter left on her own feet and came back dead,” she said through tears. “All I feel now is longing for her. I smell her clothes because they still carry her scent.”
Lost Childhood
Ritaj’s killing occurred during a ceasefire that came into effect in October 2025 following negotiations in Cairo and Doha. Although the agreement was intended to provide protection for civilians and ease humanitarian suffering, residents of Gaza continued to face insecurity amid repeated violations and ongoing violence.
Her death also reflects the broader devastation inflicted on Gaza’s children and educational system since the beginning of the war. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, by March 2026 more than 72,000 people had been killed, including approximately 17,000 children, 12,000 women, and 3,000 elderly people.
Education has been among the sectors most severely affected. UNICEF reported that 95 percent of Gaza’s schools were damaged or destroyed, while UNESCO estimated that 95 percent of universities had been destroyed.
For Ritaj, the consequences of the war were deeply personal. She spent more than two years deprived of education before finally being given an opportunity to return to learning. That opportunity lasted only a few days.
Ritaj was not carrying a weapon. She was carrying a notebook and a simple ambition shared by children everywhere: to learn.
Between the tent erected on the ruins of a school and the bullet that ended her life lies the story of a generation of children growing up amid war, displacement, and the loss of educational opportunities. Her death remains a stark reminder that even during a declared ceasefire, many children in Gaza continued to face grave risks, including in places meant for learning and safety.
Ohood Nassar is a journalist and teacher from Gaza. She has written for We Are Not Numbers, New Arab, Al Jazeera, Institute for Palestine Studies, Electronic Intifada, and Prism.