Bilal believed in books more than bombs.
At 27, he was already a seasoned teacher of Arabic literature, known for quoting Mahmoud Darwish in the middle of dusty, overcrowded classrooms. His students, mostly teenagers who had grown up surrounded by war, didn’t always appreciate poetry. But Bilal believed that language had the power to protect what concrete walls could not.
He taught at a Secondary School, one of the few functioning public schools in Gaza City before the October 2023 war began. He wore glasses with a cracked frame, kept a copy of the Qur’an and Diwan Darwish in his satchel, and greeted every class with the same words: “Words are your weapons. Use them wisely.”