Al-Israa University in Gaza said on Thursday that the Israeli military blew up its main campus amid the ongoing war in the Palestinian territory. Video footage circulating online, showed the complex of buildings, about 8 kilometers south of Gaza City, being blown up in what appeared to be a controlled explosion.
In the video, apparently taken by a drone, the extent of destruction could not be seen. The university, a private institution founded in 2014, said in a statement that its main buildings for graduate studies and bachelor’s colleges were destroyed, The Associated Press reported. The university said Israeli forces seized the complex 70 days ago and used it as a base.
This is “Palestine University” in Gaza. Hamas turned it into one of its headquarters solely dedicated to weapons research and production.It is no more
— Dr. Eli David (@DrEliDavid) January 18, 2024
‘390 schools, universities destroyed’
It was unclear when the explosion took place and the Israeli army had no immediate comment. But Hamas claims that Israeli forces have destroyed more than 390 schools, universities and educational institutions across Gaza since launching their campaign following the militants’ October 7 attack on southern Israel. Meanwhile, the Israeli side argues that Hamas continues to operate from civilian infrastructure.
During a press conference on Thursday, a State Department Spokesperson was asked if Israa University was a legitimate target. To this, spokesperson Matthew Miller said, “I don’t have independent information to verify that. But I can say that we continue to urge Israel to avoid damage to critical infrastructure – that would, of course, include universities – and to ensure the protection of humanitarian and medical sites.”
The journalist again pressed the State Department spokesman, asking if the Government of Israel is paying heed to what Washington tells them. Miller said,” We have seen them take some steps to add civilian infrastructure to deconfliction sites. There are other things that we have urged them to do that we want them to do better on. It is an ongoing conversation between our two governments.”
“But again, there is also this problem that Hamas does continue to hide in and under civilian infrastructure. So, when you see a strike against any one civilian – piece of civilian infrastructure, to assess the validity of that strike you have to know what it is that was there, and we don’t always know that when,” he added.
(With agency inputs)
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