Rami Almeghari on Israel’s willful destruction of Gaza’s educational infrastructure:
In late December 2008, Israeli operated, American-made F-16 jets bombed Gaza’s Islamic University. The university’s laboratories and several buildings were destroyed.
Dr. Kamalin Shaath, President of the Islamic University, explained that “The buildings are still demolished, all we did was remove the rubble. We are looking forward to beginning the reconstruction.”
Dr. Shaath added that “The students of the engineering faculty lost their graduation projects. Other sectors in Gaza were impacted due to the destruction of the laboratories. For example, the agriculture sector used to benefit from the university’s labs for testing soil.”
Ahmad al-Asmar, a student at the Islamic University of Gaza, explained that he has been “greatly impacted and saddened due to the destruction of our laboratories. However, we are determined to continue our academic life.”
I personally saw the destruction at the Islamic University a few weeks ago; most people were still in shock that Israel would target a university.
Suffice to say, Gazan children are struggling to recover from the war’s onslaught, many of whom told me, through their parents, of seeing Israel kill adults and kids in front of their eyes.