Rahaf Handiq (Rahaf Ḥunaydiq) (رهف محمد حنيدق) was a teacher and scholar who worked as a lecturer in the Faculty of Theology at the Islamic University of Gaza and acted as an educational supervisor at Akka Secondary School. She was a pillar of the Khan Yunis community: she served as a religion teacher and premarital counselor at several mosques in Gaza and was an active member of Fatah and a number of civic groups, including the UNRWA Women’s Center for Cultural and Sports Activities, the Palestinian Elders Assembly, the Women’s Affairs Committee, and the Academic Campaign against the Israeli Occupation. 

Dr. Handiq was born on 29 April 1973, in the Yarmouk Camp in Syria. Her father was an officer in the Palestine Liberation Army, the military wing of the PLO. She completed her primary and preparatory education at UNRWA schools in the camp and then obtained her high school diploma from Yarmouk High School. She went on to earn a university degree in civil engineering in Syria in 1994.

Her family made the decision to return to Palestine sometime after the signing of the Oslo Accords and the establishment of the Palestinian Authority. Once in Gaza, Dr. Handiq changed course and turned to the study of religion at the Islamic University where she completed a BA in the Fundamentals of Religion, an MA in Contemporary Doctrines and Legal Schools (2016), and a PhD in the Fundamentals of Contemporary Doctrine (2022). She published several academic articles in the Islamic University Journal of Islamic Studies, including “Atheism and Crime in the Modern Age” (2023), and “Al-kursi and al-`arsh [Qur’anic verses] between the Sunnis and Twelver Shi’ites (2018).” She also wrote opinion pieces for the Anbaa Express website that addressed issues of Israeli religious extremism, the conditions in Israeli prisons, and the status of Arab women. 

Dr. Handiq wrote movingly about the many privations and human losses in Gaza during the time she lived through the Israeli assault. A month prior to her death, she wrote her last post on her Facebook page: “Whenever I cry or become weak, they ask me not to cry, but I am tired and exhausted, and I want to cry… Oh God, I want to cry… even crying is forbidden for us.” 

Dr. Handiq and her family were displaced from Khan Yunis to a “safe zone” in Rafah. At dawn on 10 February 2024, Israeli occupation forces bombed her home there, killing Dr. Handiq, her husband Muhammad Abu al-Sa`id, a teacher, and two of their sons, Ussama and Ahmad. 

Photo credit: ourgaza