On October 29, 2023, an announcement in Arabic appeared on X app (formerly Twitter) stating that the Ministry of Education and Higher Education in the Gaza Strip has declared the end of the school year “since all students have been killed” as a result of Israeli air raids. The announcement then went viral, in both English and French, and was seen, even before its French translation, by 16.5 million viewers. According to many internet users, the initial announcement which underlay that rumor, written in Arabic, deliberately sought to exaggerate, but was misinterpreted and transmitted as is, especially following its English translation.[1]

Regardless of this news item/rumor, hundreds of school children, boys and girls, are among the thousands of children killed during Israel's current war on Gaza, as also hundreds of university students, male and female.  The Ministry had announced, a few days after the start of Israel's war, the closure of all schools and universities and the suspension of all training sessions and examinations in order to ensure the safety of both students and teachers, especially since the Israeli onslaught had directly targeted a large number of educational institutions, alleging that HAMAS had turned them into bases for its fighters.

Gaza's students denied their school year

On October 23, 2023, an announcement by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) stated that the Gaza Strip was no longer a safe place for hundreds of thousands of male and female students and for approximately 22,500 male and female teachers.  The educational system has further deteriorated as a result of waves of internal migration from the northern regions of the Strip southwards. The UN estimated that there are some 1.4 million internally displaced persons in the Gaza Strip, some 600,000 of whom live in 150 emergency shelters designated by UNRWA, as a result of the massive destruction of educational institutions and civilian infrastructures. The announcement added that “more than 625,000 male and female students in the Gaza Strip are now denied education” and that “206 schools have been damaged, 8 of which at least were being used as emergency shelters” and pointed to the fact that “the extent of damage done to educational institutions and other civilian infrastructures causes increasing anxiety.” Of these damaged or destroyed educational establishments no less than 29 were UNRWA schools, and many university buildings sustained severe destruction.

According to OCHA, the escalating war on Gaza has also severely restricted safe access to educational establishments in certain regions of the West Bank, including east Jerusalem. All schools in the West Bank were ordered closed in the period between 7 and 9 October last, affecting no less than 782, 000 male and female students. Of schools run by the Palestinian Authority, numbering some 1918 schools, only 232 schools remained open, taking in some 50,000 students. This was due to restrictions on access, settler violence, detention of students or school staffs, and fear of harassment on the road to school, as per a survey conducted on 17 October. OCHA clarified that “the majority of these schools are located in Zone C and East Jerusalem, and also in outlying regions were children find it difficult to access their schools.”[2]

Problems facing the university education sector in the West Bank and Gaza

According to the Palestinian Central Office of Statistics, there are 49 institutions of higher education in the West Bank and Gaza, made up of universities, university colleges and research centers. All these experience enormous difficulties due to severely repressive measures adopted by the Israeli occupation, the restrictions imposed on the movement of academics, the lack of qualified teachers, an endemic lack of funding, since between 60% and 70% of all university incomes come from registration fees and, finally, dependence on the outside, since the salaries of staff in some institutions are paid entirely by international donors.

In the West Bank, universities ever since their establishment have experienced systemic imperialist policies and measures designed to severely restrict their freedom, impose censorship over their knowledge production and deny them all political, social and cultural aspects essential to university life. Most of these universities have experienced closures, armed assaults and attacks against their buildings and basic installations. The occupation regime repeatedly arrests students from within university campuses and fires upon them as happened on numerous occasions at Bir Zeit University in recent years, and in particular this past summer. This is when the Israeli army raided five universities and institutes of higher learning on the West Bank: Bir Zeit University, near Ramallah, Arab-American University in Jenin, Al-Quds University, the Palestine Polytechnic in al-Khalil and the Palestine National University. This last was used as a detention center for those arrested by the Israeli authorities after a raid upon al-Dhaysheh Refugee Camp, near Bethlehem. During all these raids, attacks have been  recorded against students, guards, property and equipment, and many files and installations have been confiscated.

The Gaza Strip includes 10 university institutes catering to some 90,000 students, male and female, and made up of 5 universities: Al-Aqsa University, Al-Azhar University, the Islamic University, Palestine University and Gaza University, together with 5 university colleges, the most prominent being the Palestine Technical College in Dayr al-Balah, the College of Science and Technology in Khan Yunis and the College of Advanced Sciences. Before the year 2005, and in order to allow students from the southern sector of the Gaza Strip to continue their studies, the Al-Aqsa University built an extension in Khan Yunis, in addition to three other branches of the Al-Quds Open University.

Gazan universities suffer not merely from the same difficulties faced by Palestinian universities in general but also from specific difficulties ensuing directly from that long and suffocating Israeli siege imposed on the Gaza Strip. University life was severely affected by the restrictions imposed by Israel on the movement of people and goods. It was no longer possible for the academics of Gaza to attend conferences to which they were invited by colleagues abroad, or even by colleagues in the West Bank, and it has been extremely difficult to invite foreign academics to teach at Gazan universities. As a result of Israel's siege, universities in Gaza experience other problems such as the obsolescence of equipment or their complete absence, which directly impacts teaching and research. The universities also experience problems of an operational nature to do primarily with electricity cuts lasting between 4 and 8 hours every 24 hours. This results in cancelling training sessions and laboratory work as also explanatory demonstrations controlled through computers. This is to say nothing about the general poverty ensuing from the siege which makes 80% of the population dependent upon international aid and prevent universities from increasing registration fees which, in most cases, constitute their sole source of income.

However, the greatest problem faced by universities in Gaza is their targeting by the Israeli army during the wars repeatedly waged upon Gaza by Israel. Thus, during the 2008/2009 war upon Gaza, Israel's air force demolished six university buildings, including two belonging to the Islamic University in Gaza: the Faculty of Engineering with all its numerous equipment and labs, and the IWAN Center for Antiquities. Destroyed also were the Experimental Farm (140,000 sq.m.) in Bayt Hanun, the buildings of the Astronomy Dept at the Al-Mustaqbal Center  of Al-Azhar University, and a building attached to the Center for Science and Technology at Khan Yunis.[3]  In 2014, the war waged by Israel on Gaza resulted in severe damage to 12 higher education institutes including: The Islamic University, the Al-Azhar University, the Palestine University, the Gaza University, the University College of Applied Science, the University College of Al-Aqsa University, Palestine College of Technology, University College of Science and Technology, Al-Rabat University College, the College of Middle Level Studies attached to Al-Azhar University, and the Arab College of Applied Sciences.[4]  During the 2014 War, Israeli F-16 war planes pointedly targeted the Islamic University whose main Administration building was destroyed in part, while its other buildings suffered massive damage. At that time an Israeli Occupation spokesperson stated that the bombing of that university came as a response to the university being used “to collect donations for the HAMAS movement under the guise of academic conferences.” He alleged that the University “was an important military operational center for the military wing of that movement.”[5]  On July 14, 2018, Israeli aircraft bombed the Al-Azhar University buildings and a later announcement by the University stated that: “the Central University Library (named after Jawaharlal Nehru)  has suffered severe damage from all sides, as also the Faculty of Dentistry and its clinics and labs, in addition to the two faculties of Education and Literature and Humanities, and the Faculty of Economics and Administration.” Furthermore, “the great Haifa Hall as well as the great Acre Hall were very severely damaged together with the Shaykh Muhammad `Awwad Hall. Extensive damage was also done to the Water and Environment Center which included its labs, teaching classrooms and diverse equipment.”[6]

The educational sector as a primary target in Israel's current war

In the course of the war now being waged by Israel on the Gaza Strip, Israeli war planes have bombed the buildings of the Islamic University on October 11, alleging that these were “an operational, political and military center” of HAMAS and a “facility for testing and developing weapons.” Ahmad `Urabi, a University official, speaking to Agence France Presse, stated that: “repeated and deliberate air raids completely destroyed some university buildings.” No one could enter these buildings because of “raging fires and the stones and rubble blocking the roads surrounding the university.” On its official website on Facebook, the University announced that the building housing the Faculty of Information Technology, the building housing the Faculty of Social Welfare and Continuing Education and the Science Building all suffered severe destruction together with their equipment, labs and furniture, in addition to the shattered panes of glass in all university buildings and on their fronts. The University Administration called upon all international organizations to “intervene swiftly to save institutions serving the Palestinian people and to safeguard the right of students to a safe education.”[7]  On October 26, Israeli military aircraft raided the buildings of Al-Azhar University, then came back and bombed them again on November 4. This took place after a large number of civilians had sought shelter in these buildings where at least 12 people were reportedly killed and more than 50 were wounded, while rescue teams attempted to search for survivors amidst the rubble.[8]

In the West Bank, the occupation regime carried out a wide campaign of detentions which included tens of university students, faculty and staff, and imposed severe restrictions on population movement and travel between towns of various provinces, or between cities and neighboring towns and villages. After having set up road blocks and gates at roads leading into towns and villages, this prevented thousands of students and employees from reaching their educational establishments. Beginning with the war on Gaza, the process of education has been halted at all Palestinian universities and institutes due to the difficulty of access for students and teachers, and these latter have been subjected, when travelling, to incessant harassment and maltreatment at the hands of Israeli settlers and soldiers. This forced these institutions to close their doors throughout October last and right up to the time of writing of this paper. Resort to distance electronic teaching, in addition to denying students the advantage of interaction among themselves and living a normal university lifein all its aspects, has negatively affected their role as a force of political resistance, to say nothing about deteriorating standards of education and denying these universities the performance of their national duty as spaces where free and liberal ideas may be aired that affect the public and react to current events.

Conclusion

The Islamic University is regarded as one of the oldest institutions of higher education in the Gaza Strip. It was founded in 1978, i.e. approximately ten years before the formation of the HAMAS movement. It is correct to state that the Muslim Brotherhood were behind its foundation, but this does not mean that it has become a “military base” for HAMAS, as alleged by the Israeli army, in an attempt to justify its repeated bombing. In this regard, Inas `Abd al-Raziq, Executive Director of the Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy (PIPD) points out that “the ties linking this University to the HAMAS movement that rules Gaza today are exactly the same as the ties linking the Sorbonne to the French government.” This is so because it is “a university which is located in Gaza and is subject to supervision by the local Ministry of Higher Education. Ties need to exist but without meaning that they are ties to the military wing of the movement.”[9]  This is true of all universities in the Gaza Strip, including for instance the Al-Azhar University, founded in 1991 by a decree issued by the late Chairman Yasir `Arafat.

In reality, Israel's targeting of institutions of higher education in the besieged Gaza Strip and the West Bank is designed to put an end to the Palestinian resistance to occupation through higher education and culture, especially since these two regions of Palestine, with their 213,000 male and female students in higher education, represent a high rate of advancement according to international standards, and surpass many other neighboring Arab countries.

[1] https://www.liberation.fr/checknews/lannee-universitaire-a-t-elle-pris-fin-a-gaza-car-tous-les-etudiants-ont-ete-tues-comme-lavance-une-publication-virale-20231029

[2] “A Gaza, plus de 625.000 élèves privés d'école en raison des hostilités”

[3] Duval, Evelyne. “La situation universitaire dans la bande de Gaza”

[4]  محمد منصور أبو ركبة (محاضر غير متفرغ في جامعة الأزهر)، "آثار العدوان الإسرائيلي على قطاع التعليم في قطاع غزة".

[5]  سعد الوحيدي، "الجامعة الإسلامية بغزة: تاريخ من الاستهدافات الإسرائيلية".

إيمي شعلان وسامر عبد النور، "حق الفلسطينيين في التعليم: ضحية أُخرى للحروب الإسرائيلية".

[6] "جامعة الأزهر تتعرض لأضرار كبيرة خلال قصف غزة أمس"، 15 تموز/يوليو 2018.

[7] "الاحتلال يقصف الجامعة الإسلامية في غزة ويدمر عدداً من مبانيها".

“Bombardement israélien sur un campus lié au Hamas à Gaza”

[8] https://fr.topwar.ru/229568-cahal-razbombil-palestinskij-universitet-al-azhar-v-gaze.htm

[9] https://www.tf1info.fr/international/l-universite-de-gaza-un-campus-du-hamas-finance-par-la-france-et-l-ue-2273225.htm