Amidst the destruction and military onslaught by Israel on the Gaza Strip, students enrolled in universities in Palestine have been defending their theses and obtaining their degrees.
The latest of them is one Mohammed Hussein, a 30-year-old citizen of Gaza, who recently defended his thesis and received his Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree, amidst heavy bombing, destruction and carnage.
Like many Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, Mohammed resides in a tent in a refugee camp as his house was destroyed in retaliatory airstrikes and bombing by Israel following the attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas on Israeli settlements on October 7, 2023.
In a fundraiser he started to evacuate from Gaza for the safety of his wife and two children, he claims that food and resources are scarce and that his family is “desperate” to rebuild their lives “in a place of safety and security.”
Mohammed’s story is that of countless Palestinians in Gaza, who braved an aggressive military onslaught by Israel over the past year, to defend their theses and complete their education.
In displays of extreme resilience and bravery, many of these graduates can be seen braving bombing, explosions and an active war, setting up tents and chairs amidst the rubble and carnage, and receiving their degrees.
Since Israel’s military campaign to “eliminate Hamas” began following the latter’s attack on Israel on October 7 last year, at least 10,490 school and university students, and 500 school and university teachers have been killed due to Israel’s attacks, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Education & Higher Education, as per a report by ReliefWeb.
In addition, MiddleEastEye reports that almost all of Gaza’s universities have been “flattened to the ground” due to Israeli airstrikes, leaving 90,000 students in the region uncertain about their future.
A few of these universities include the Islamic University of Gaza, which is the region’s oldest education institution, Al-Quds Open University, University of Palestine, Al-Aqsa University and others.
In these attacks, over 95 professors and academics have also lost their lives, according to the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor. The most prominent of them is Prof Refaat Alareer, a Palestinian writer, poet, activist, and Professor of English Literature at the Islamic University of Gaza, who was killed by an Israeli airstrike on December 6, 2023.
Critics of Israel, scholars, academics, activists, and even experts from the United Nations (UN) termed this onslaught on the Palestinian education system as a “scholasticide”.