Gaza City—Despite widespread destruction and ongoing challenges, Islamic University in Gaza City resumed in-person classes in late November, offering a small return to normalcy for students after a two-year disruption caused by the conflict.
Resumption of Classes at Islamic University
On December 1, Mohammed Hossam Ashour, a 19-year-old information technology major, attended in-person lectures at one of the two remaining buildings of Islamic University in Gaza City for the first time in two years. “We are happy to be beginning our return to something of a normal life, even if in a small way, to be returning to in-person learning after having been absent for more than two years because of the war the Israeli occupation waged against us,” Ashour said.
Nearly every building on the campus of Islamic University, once one of the largest in Gaza with approximately 17,000 students—60 percent of whom were women—has been damaged or destroyed. Hundreds of displaced families have sought shelter in the rubble-filled courtyard and lecture halls.
Impact on Education in Gaza
Since October 2023, 745,000 students in Gaza have been out of school, including 88,000 in college and beyond. According to the Gaza’s Government Media Office, some 165 schools, universities, and other educational institutions were completely destroyed, while another 392 sustained partial damage. Thousands of students, teachers, and staff have been killed. There is limited access to electricity and internet.
Thousands of university students have graduated over the past two years through remote learning. Administrators have been working to resume in-person classes since the ceasefire on October 10.
“We’ve lost many things, and most of the resources we need are still difficult to secure. In IT, you need internet access, you need to have a laptop, and you need to have the necessary mental fortitude,” Ashour said. “The university buildings, though it’s true we repaired some of them, there are still technologies, laboratories, different spaces that we don’t have because of the war, the occupation, and the siege we are living through.”
“But here we send a message of defiance and steadfastness in the face of the occupation: that through education, God willing, and through persistence, seriousness, and hard work, we will reach our goals and put an end to the policy of enforced ignorance that the occupation has practiced, and continues to practice, against us,” he continued. “They deprived us of education for more than two years.”
Despite Israel’s actions, Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank maintained a literacy rate of over 97 percent in 2020, with high rates of enrollment in secondary and higher education. https://www.pcbs.gov.ps/site/lang__en/881/default.aspx#Education
“The university has been able to resume in-person education, gradually and partially, and despite the destruction that befell it,” Professor Bassam al-Saqqa, vice president of academic affairs at Islamic University, said. “More than the buildings, the academic infrastructure of the university was completely destroyed, including the internet infrastructure, which was among the strongest and most renowned in all of Palestine. The university’s laboratories as well, the computer and science labs, for the College of Science, the College of Medicine, and the College of Engineering.”
“The Islamic University had the largest number of computers in all of Palestine, as well as highly advanced laboratories. We are speaking now about these resources not to romanticize what has been lost, but to tell our people that, God willing, we will restore these resources and these laboratories to what they once were. We draw our strength from our people and from our students’ passion for learning, for in-person learning. Frankly, we were surprised by our students’ enthusiasm and their widespread attendance, their presence in the university at the earliest hours, seated at their desks and ready to receive knowledge directly from their instructors. We hope this will be the beginning of a complete return to life.”
Challenges Remain for Gaza’s Students
More than 97 percent of elementary schools in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, and many were converted into shelters for the displaced before being bombed. UNICEF reported that over two academic years, most of the 658,000 school-age children have had limited access to face-to-face learning. https://www.unicef.org/sop/stories/after-two-years-war-gazas-education-system-brink-collapse
Since the ceasefire, Israel has continued to restrict the import of school supplies into Gaza. “So far it has been impossible to get in educational supplies. Teachers are writing on tent walls. UNICEF has stationery, back packs for children and resources for teachers waiting at the borders, but it is not considered as lifesaving humanitarian aid so we have not been given permission to enter the materials into Gaza yet.” The UN Palestinian refugee agency, UNRWA, echoed these concerns, stating that import restrictions hinder even the delivery of basic supplies like pens and notebooks.
Some 390 temporary classrooms have been set up with over 5,000 teachers serving nearly 221,000 students—about 567 children per learning space. However, only a little over one-third of Gaza’s school-age children are enrolled for the 2025–2026 school year. Cold winter rains have also damaged dozens of temporary classrooms, with more closures expected.
Despite maintaining its siege and continuing attacks that kill Palestinians daily, prompting Amnesty International to state that “despite a reduction in scale of attacks, and some limited improvements, there has been no meaningful change in the conditions Israel is inflicting on Palestinians in Gaza and no evidence to indicate that Israel’s intent has changed,” efforts to restore education continue.
“Israeli authorities are still committing genocide against Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip, by continuing to deliberately inflict conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction.”
Misk al-Daour, 18, enrolled at the College of Sharia and Law at Islamic University after two years of disrupted education. “This is one of the most beautiful days I’ve lived through the war, but the hardship still persists,” she said. “But we, as Palestinian people, will continue and will persevere in this work, for the sake of God and for the sake of education.”
Rayan El Amine contributed to this report. Sami Vanderlip edited the video.
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