GAZA CITY, Palestine: An Israeli strike on the Islamic University in Gaza City killed three people and injured eight others on Sunday, according to Al Shifa Hospital, while four more Palestinians were killed in separate strikes elsewhere in the Gaza Strip, the civil defence agency said.
Al Shifa Hospital said it received three bodies and treated eight people wounded in the drone strike on the university. Two sources at the Islamic University said those killed were administrative staff members and that the injured were students, AFP reported.
Gaza’s education ministry said the students were attending classes when the strike occurred. It condemned the attack, saying that international silence over strikes on students and universities was encouraging further attacks.
“The global silence regarding attacks on students and universities serves as encouragement for the continuation of these crimes,” the ministry said in a statement.
The Israeli military said it was looking into the reports when contacted for comment, AFP reported.
Gaza Civil Defence spokesman Mahmoud Bassal said four other Palestinians were killed in separate Israeli strikes on Sunday.
Two people were killed in an airstrike in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, one in Deir al-Balah in the central Strip and another in northern Gaza, he said.
Separately, the Palestinian news agency WAFA, citing medical sources, reported that one Palestinian was killed and five others wounded in an Israeli strike on the Al-Mawasi area of Khan Younis.
WAFA also reported that several Palestinians were wounded, some critically, when an Israeli drone attacked civilians near Hamad Hospital, northwest of Gaza City. Several others were injured in a separate drone strike on the coastal Al-Rashid Street in northern Gaza, the agency said.
Gaza’s education ministry said the strike came as the territory’s higher education sector faced widespread destruction after more than two years of war.
The ministry said 95 percent of buildings belonging to academic institutions had been damaged during the conflict.
“This heinous assault is part of a continuous series of attacks on education; over the past six days, 10 students and educators have been killed by the occupation’s fire,” it said.
A ceasefire has been in effect in Gaza for more than a year, but it has not completely halted Israeli attacks in the territory.
Gaza health officials say at least 1,500 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli airstrikes since the truce took effect.
Palestinian authorities say more than 74,000 people have been killed in Israel’s military assault on Gaza.
