Bright 20-year-old Malak Alsweirki now studying at Trinity College Dublin after being evacuated from the stricken enclave, where her family shelter in a tent
She’s had to endure one of life’s hardest lessons – how to live in a warzone. But now bright Gazan Malak Alsweirki is studying at one of the world ’s best universities.
The 20-year-old was evacuated from the stricken strip, where her family shelter in a tent, weeks ago. And the remarkable youngster has issued a powerful message, saying: “We’re not heroes, we’re not terrorists, we’re humans and we want to live.” Malak was able to attend prestigious Trinity College Dublin after the Irish government offered to help get her out of Gaza. “My parents, my family, they were all waiting for the opportunity for me to leave because how we think isn’t only about educational opportunities, isn’t only about life opportunities, it’s a matter of death and life,” she said.
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Malak, who also got offers from Cambridge University, as well as Harvard and Yale in the US, journeyed out of Gaza – a place she had never left – via Israel to get to Jordan. The student, who only learnt of her evacuation the day before leaving, described how she felt going. “I felt overwhelmed because, oh my god, people in Gaza are being bombed. And what separates them from a normal life is just tiny kilometres,” she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
Next month marks two years since war erupted in Gaza after Hamas’ October 7 assault on Israel. Recent weeks have seen famine declared in parts of the enclave and a UN commission find Israel has been committing genocide against Palestinians there. Malak explained: “I think what I have been through, what I actually experienced when I was in Gaza, was hell on every aspect. Like, you see what is the worst thing that can happen to any human, this is what I experienced. People can suffer from lack of food, but what I was going through with my family, and what my family unfortunately is still going through, is not having food at all. You walk in the street, bombs everywhere… it’s like continuous fear, continuous feeling of anxiety, of thinking of tomorrow, of hopelessness, of helplessness.”
Malak is reportedly studying a foundation course at Trinity College, ranked the best university in Ireland and in the world’s top 100. The student’s parents were shot by Israeli soldiers in late 2023, RTE reported. Her parents and three younger siblings are now said to be living in a tent.
Asked what is in her mind about what comes next for her, she told the BBC: “As Gazan, in order to stand out in this world, you need to work twice as good. Because my people need me, I get the chance to leave Gaza, I get the chance to complete my education. As I told you earlier, education is the key for everything. I want to work very, very hard so one day I am the diplomat my people want to use as a real representative to them.
“I want them to be represented as humans who want to live. We’re not heroes, we’re not terrorists, we’re humans and we want to live. We want to have education, we want to fall in love, we want to go to hospitals whenever we want, we want to have medications, we want to have food, we want to have celebrations and parties and we want to have healthy, smiling children. This is what my people deserve and this is what I want to give them.”
The Gaza war was sparked by Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel in 2023 which killed about 1,200 people – with 251 hostages taken. Over 65,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed in Israel’s offensive, according to ministry of health figures.