开篇：我的侄子们在一顶大帐篷里上课，周围全是被炸毁的房屋。他们没有桌椅可用，只能坐在泥地上。
The Lede My nephews study in a big tent surrounded by bombed-out houses. They have no access to chairs or tables, so they sit on the dirt.
在我成长的过程中，每逢新学年开始前一周左右，父母总会带我和兄弟姐妹们去文具店。我会挑选心仪的笔记本、铅笔、卷笔刀、橡皮和尺子，把它们装进书包里。之后我们还会去市场，购买牛仔裤、衬衫、鞋子、袜子和皮带。开学前夜是我一年中仅次于开斋节的重要日子——我会把准备好的衣服和书包摆在床边，还会把新买的鞋子塞到枕头底下。
When I was growing up, in northern Gaza, my parents took my siblings and me to a stationery store about a week before each school year started. I would pick out my favorite notebooks, pencils, sharpener, eraser, and ruler, and place them in my backpack. My parents also took us to the market, to buy jeans, shirts, shoes, socks, and a belt. The night before school began was the second most important day of my year, after Eid. I would lay out my outfit and backpack next to the mattress where I slept. Then I would tuck my new shoes under my pillow.
2023年10月7日，我正准备带女儿雅法去加沙北部的贝特拉希亚市，送她去哈利法·本·扎耶德学校上学——那正是我四年级时就读的学校。就在这时，哈马斯及其他武装组织从加沙向以色列发射火箭弹。背着粉绿色书包、带着同色系午餐盒的雅法尖叫起来，双手紧紧捂住耳朵。三岁的儿子穆斯塔法也哭了起来，但他仍试图安慰妹妹。
On October 7, 2023, I was preparing to take my daughter Yaffa to Khalifa bin Zayed School, in Beit Lahia, in northern Gaza, the same school I attended for fourth grade, when Hamas and other military groups fired rockets from Gaza into Israel. Yaffa, who was carrying a pink-and-green school backpack and a matching lunchbox, screamed and covered her ears. My son Mostafa, who was three, was crying, too, but he tried to comfort her.
当时我并不知道，那竟是雅法最后一次穿上校服。10月12日，就在我们的房子被炸毁的前一天，我问雅法和另一个儿子亚赞是否明白为什么不能去上学。他们回答：“我们会死的，我们很害怕。”不久后我们便搬进了一所女子学校的避难所，而以色列的炸弹仍不断在附近落下。
I didn’t know it then, but that was the last day Yaffa would wear her school uniform. On October 12th, a day before our house was destroyed I asked Yaffa and my other son, Yazzan, if they understood why they weren’t going to school. “We will die,” they said. “We are scared.”We soon moved into a shelter in a girl’s school. Israeli bombs kept falling nearby.
以色列袭击学校以及躲在学校里的平民的行为早已屡见不鲜。2009年，两枚以色列坦克炮弹在阿尔-法库拉学校外爆炸，当时许多家庭正为躲避以色列的地面攻势而聚集在此。弹片穿透敞开的校门和校园，造成43人死亡、约150人受伤。我至今仍清晰记得2014年7月30日，以色列炮击了贾巴利亚难民营中用作避难所的一所学校。我的未婚妻马拉姆当时就躲在隔壁的教室里。这次袭击导致15人丧生，其中包括马拉姆的亲属和几位邻居。
Israel’s attacks on schools, and on people sheltering in them, are not new. In 2009, two Israeli tank shells exploded immediately outside Al-Fakhoora, which was crowded with families fleeing an Israeli ground offensive. Shrapnel tore through the open school gates and grounds, killing forty-three people and injuring about a hundred and fifty. And I can vividly remember July 30, 2014, when Israel shelled a school in Jabalia camp that was serving as a shelter. My future wife, Maram, had taken shelter in the classroom next door. Fifteen people were slaughtered, including relatives of Maram, and some of her neighbors.