Gaza's Islamic University in Ruins After Weeks of Israeli Bombardment

The widespread destruction of the main campus of one of the largest universities in Gaza was showcased in a video posted to Instagram on Monday, November 27, by local journalist Abdelqadar Sabbah.

Early on in the escalation of the Israel-Hamas conflict sparked by Hamas’s October 7 attack on southern Israel, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed that the Islamic University Gaza had been struck by its fighter jets, describing it as an “important operational, political, and military center” for Hamas.

In a written statement released on Wednesday, October 11, the IDF said: “The university was being used as a Hamas training camp for military intelligence operatives, as well as for the development and production of weapons,” alleging that the university had close ties to Hamas’s leadership and that its conferences had been used to raise funds for terrorism.

A day earlier, the university had announced that several of its buildings in Gaza City had been severely damaged in bombardments. Credit: Abdelqadar Sabbah via Storyful

Video transcript

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