The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed on Wednesday 11 October that it had bombed the Islamic University of Gaza and released a video of a building being targeted by an air strike.
The IDF press statement said it had “struck an important Hamas operational, political and military centre in Gaza – the Islamic University”.
The video shows four buildings being hit by what appear to be consecutive targeted air-to-ground missiles which exploded on impact. AFP later reported that a university official confirmed that “some of the buildings were completely destroyed”, according to an MSN report.
The IDF alleged: “The university was being used as a Hamas training camp for military intelligence operatives, as well as for the development and production of weapons.”
The IDF said that Hamas “used university conferences to raise funds for terrorism” and that the university “maintained close ties with the senior leadership of Hamas”.
The Palestinian Ministry of Higher Education and Research stated on 11 October condemning the direct attack on the buildings and facilities of two universities, the Islamic University and the Al-Azhar University, also located in the Gaza Strip.
“This in turn caused serious damage to the infrastructure of the two universities,” it said. University World News has no further details on the attack on Al-Azhar University.
The Islamic University of Gaza stated on 10 October saying: “Large parts of the buildings of the Islamic University of Gaza were subjected to major damage and severe material losses” as a result of Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City on 9 October.
“The building of the College of Information Technology, the building of the Deanship of Community Service and Continuing Education, and the building of the university’s College of Science were all exposed to damage,” read the statement.
Israel bombed several ministries, headquarters and government institutions adjacent to the university on Monday, causing severe damage to the surrounding area in which the university is located.
In its statement, the university called on all institutions, organisations and international bodies “to intervene quickly, and to work hard to protect the institutions that serve all the Palestinian people from these attacks” and “work immediately to guarantee the right of students to safe education”.
The Islamic University of Gaza is a member of several regional and international associations and networks of higher education, including the International Association of Universities, the Mediterranean Universities Union, the Association of Arab Universities, the Federation of the Universities of the Islamic World and the Global University Network for Innovation.
Academic death toll rises
Meanwhile, the toll of deaths of Palestinian students and academics is rising.
The General Union of Palestinian Students-Malaysia branch 8 October announced the death of Dr. Mohamed Jamil Al-Zaanin, a doctoral graduate at the University of Islamic Sciences Malaysia, who was killed during an air strike while on vacation in the Gaza Strip with his wife, also a Ph.D. student, and four children; and Suleiman Jihad Suleiman Abu Anza, a student at Al-Bukhari University in Malaysia, who was also on holiday in Gaza.
Palestine Technical College in Deir El-Balah, Gaza Strip, announced the killing of student Magid Al-Salebi and graduate Kosay Zakout.
Earlier three Palestinian students of West Bank universities and 11 international students were reported killed in escalating conflict, which by Thursday morning had seen 1,200 people killed in Israel and more than 1,300 in Gaza, according to the BBC. Thousands of people have been injured on both sides.
Meanwhile, universities in Israel and the Gaza Strip have announced their temporary closure and universities in the West Bank have shifted to distance education.
In the occupied West Bank three universities announced that a student had been killed at each institution.
Fighting began with military incursion
The fighting began when the military forces of Hamas, the de facto political authority in the Gaza Strip, broke through the Israeli border at multiple points, attacking towns and villages and sending 2,500 rockets into Southern Israel. Some 260 bodies have been recovered from a music festival in Israel 3km from the border with the Gaza Strip, according to Israeli rescue service Zaka.
Dozens of Israelis, possibly as many as 100, according to the United Nations, were reported to have been taken hostage, but this figure has not been verified. They reportedly include women, children and elderly people, as well as soldiers.
In response, Israel declared war on Hamas and launched massive air strikes on Gaza, one of the most densely populated places in the world, causing large numbers of civilian casualties. Israeli land forces are preparing for a full-scale ground assault with the aim of reducing Hamas’ hideouts to “rubble”, according to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
During past Israeli military operations in Gaza, education institutions, which tend to be large public buildings, have been used to shelter displaced families, and many schools and universities have suffered direct hits or blast damage during Israeli air strikes, as reported by the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack.
