Statement
Statement Condemning the Israeli Military Attack on the Islamic University of Gaza
The Emergency Committee of Universities in Gaza strongly condemned the Israeli military attack on the Islamic University of Gaza on 25 October, which killed three university staff members and injured seven students during lectures. The Committee described the attack as a continuation of Israel’s systematic destruction of Palestinian higher education, or scholasticide, despite universities’ efforts to resume teaching amid widespread destruction. It called on the international academic community to condemn the attacks, demand accountability, strengthen institutional partnerships with Gaza’s universities, and support scholarships through the ISNAD initiative to sustain education and rebuild the sector.
The Emergency Committee of Universities in Gaza, representing Gaza's non-profit higher education sector, strongly condemns the Israeli military assault on the Islamic University of Gaza (IUG) on 25 October. The Israeli occupation has already destroyed much of the IUG campus, and all others, in the earliest days of the genocide. Despite this horror, education resumed amidst the ruins, a testimony to the resolute Palestinian will to keep the flame of knowledge alive in Gaza. The Israeli occupation clearly wants to extinguish that flame, terrorising educators and learners. As students were attending lectures yesterday, they were subjected to Israeli aerial bombardment. During this heinous attack, three university staff members were killed and seven students were injured, some critically.
An attack on one of our universities is an attack on all of us. We stand together in defence of our students, faculty and institutions, and in our shared and unrelenting determination to preserve higher education in Gaza for the sake of the Palestinian people. These attacks mark a renewed escalation in the ongoing Israeli assault on Palestinian higher education and a continuation of its policy of scholasticide – a key feature of the ongoing Gaza genocide. This systematic assault on knowledge has already killed hundreds of our academics and more than 1300 of our students. It has injured thousands of university faculty, staff, and students. That universities continue to be targeted even as they struggle to restore teaching and learning demonstrates that our students and faculty remain on the frontlines of a battle for the survival of higher education in Palestine.
The international academic community must respond to these renewed attacks with urgent and decisive action. We call on universities and scholarly associations worldwide to publicly condemn these attacks, demand their immediate end and ensure accountability for violations of international law. We urge universities to establish and strengthen sustained institutional partnerships with Gaza’s universities, supporting the continuation of teaching, research and their recovery and rebuilding. We also call on academics, students and their associations worldwide to mobilise financial support for scholarships through ISNAD, the official initiative launched by Gaza's universities, keeping our students learning and helping sustain the operation of our institutions.
Despite the destruction, Gaza’s universities remain determined to fulfil their educational mission. The international academic community has a responsibility to stand alongside us, defend our survival and support our recovery and rebuilding. Our universities must be protected and supported so that young Palestinians can have a future on their own land.