Gaza Herald – “As soon as the results of the midterm exam conducted by Dr. Mustafa in the neuroscience lab were announced, everyone was shocked. Only one student out of hundreds had achieved a perfect score.”
“When the professor revealed the name, Shams was not there to hear her achievement. The day her excellence was announced was, in fact, the first day after her killing to.”
With the bitterness of loss, her classmates recall the moment: “The professor circulated the grades in disbelief, asking who had achieved full marks. When he was told it was Shams, the hall erupted in tears. She had earned a perfect score in the exam, and left to receive the greater honor of martyrdom.”
Dr. Shams
Behind the wooden desks of the Faculty of Medicine, Shams Majdi Al-Kahlout quietly nurtured her dream like a flower blooming amid rubble. “Dr. Shams” was not merely an academic title for her; it was a promise she made to herself and a constant hope she carried with a gentle smile.
She often imagined the day she would wear the white coat and discussed her future in medicine with certainty and determination. A fellow student, Hiba Abu Hilal, recalls: “She used to sit right behind me, and I could hear her softly whispering with joy: ‘Dr. Shams.’ She envisioned that moment deeply, but the genocide never gave her the chance to wear the coat she dreamed of.”
The Physiology Night
On 30 August 2025, while Gaza was under heavy bombardment, Shams was racing to review “Physiology.” She did not know that the exam she had prepared for would never take place.
In the family apartment in Al-Rimal neighborhood, she sat surrounded by her books. Then the Israeli strike hit without warning. Shams was killed instantly, along with her brother Yousef, leaving behind an open book, an unfinished pen, and a student number that now exists only in university records.
Financial Struggles
Shams’s journey into medicine was not easy. She struggled to pay university fees, but always responded to obstacles with one phrase: “God will make it easier, God will solve it.” Her classmates say this reflected her approach to life.
She was also a top student and a memorizer of the Qur’an at Masjid Palestine, known for her calm presence, which made her loss deeply felt among her peers in the medical faculty.
Phoenix Cohort: Shams Remains a Presence
In January 2026, from the ruins of Al-Shifa Hospital, the “Phoenix Cohort” celebrated the graduation of 230 medical students.
Her sister, Sara Al-Kahlout, was among them, wearing a prosthetic after losing her leg in the war and donning the white coat her sister had dreamed of.
The most painful moment was the presence of their father, Majdi Al-Kahlout, in the segment honoring families of martyrs. He did not stand only to celebrate Sara’s achievement but also held a framed photo of Shams.
A father who had lost one son, witnessed the injury of another daughter, and now stood carrying the presence of all three children at once. Sara graduated, Shams remained in the frame, and Yousef lay beneath the earth.
Her classmate Maryam summed up the loss: “Martyrs in Gaza are not just numbers or passersby. They leave behind a pain-filled void that can never be filled.”
