Students at the Islamic University of Gaza have returned to in-person classes for the first time in two years, navigating a campus transformed into a site of mass displacement and utter devastation as a result of Israel’s genocidal war on the besieged Palestinian enclave.This Gaza City university, which reopened following October’s ceasefire, now hosts about 500 displaced families sheltering inside buildings reduced to hollow shells by Israel’s relentless assault.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of listTents dot the grounds where lecture halls once stood, a stark illustration of Gaza’s dual crises of homelessness and educational collapse.“We came here after being displaced from Jabalia because we had nowhere else to go,” said Atta Siam, one of those seeking refuge on campus. “But this place is for education. It’s not meant to be a shelter – it’s a place for our children to study.”The partial resumption of classes has rekindled hopes for thousands of students, despite conditions that bear little resemblance to a functioning university.UNESCO estimates more than 95 percent of higher education campuses across Gaza have been severely damaged or destroyed since the war began in October 2023.First-year medical student Youmna Albaba said she had dreamed of attending a properly equipped university.“I need a place where I can focus, that is fully qualified in every way,” she said. “But I haven’t found what I imagined here. Still, I have hope because we are building everything from scratch.” Buildings across Gaza have been destroyed by Israel’s bombardment [Al Jazeera Screengrab]What human rights groups and United Nations experts have termed “scholasticide” – the systematic obliteration of an education system – has left more than 750,000 Palestinian students without schooling for two consecutive academic years, according to the Gaza-based organisation Al Mezan Center for Human Rights. Advertisement Recent figures paint a devastating picture – 494 schools and universities have been partially or completely destroyed, with 137 reduced to rubble. …
