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In Pictures

Gallery|Gaza

Bombed-out Gaza university becomes shelter for displaced Palestinians

Gaza’s Islamic University turns into a shelter for hundreds of displaced families amid destruction and war.

Palestinians walk by the gate of the Islamic University in Gaza City.
Displaced Palestinians walk by the gate of the Islamic University in Gaza City [Jehad Alshrafi/AP Photo]
Published On 10 Apr 202510 Apr 2025
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One of the Strip’s largest universities, the Islamic University of Gaza in Gaza City had about 17,000 students before the war, studying everything from medicine and chemistry to literature and commerce. More than 60 percent of the students were women.

But now, any sense that the place was once a university is gone.

After 18 months of Israeli bombardment that killed more than 50,000 people in the enclave, the main auditorium is a gutted, burned-out wreck. Giant holes have been blasted through its blackened walls. The banks of seats are mangled and twisted.

The campus has become a refuge for hundreds of families in northern Gaza since Israel broke a ceasefire on March 18 and relaunched the war.

Families have set up tents in lecture halls and classrooms. They take books from the library and burn them in cooking fires because they have no fuel. Children run around in gardens reduced to fields of debris and mounds of earth.

A makeshift market has been set up under the archway of the main gate.

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Their struggle to survive has worsened because Israel has cut off the entry of food, fuel, medicine and all other goods into Gaza for more than a month, straining the limited supplies of aid agencies on which nearly the entire population relies.

A bombed-out Gaza university becomes a shelter for displaced Palestinians
A view of the Islamic University in Gaza City, partially damaged by Israeli bombardment and now serving as a shelter for displaced Palestinians. [Jehad Alshrafi/AP Photo]
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A bombed-out Gaza university becomes a shelter for displaced Palestinians
Hiam al-Kafarna prepares food on a fire for her family at the Islamic University in Gaza City. [Jehad Alshrafi/AP Photo]
A bombed-out Gaza university becomes a shelter for displaced Palestinians
Tents for displaced Palestinians are set up in the auditorium of the university, damaged by Israeli bombardment. [Jehad Alshrafi/AP Photo]
A bombed-out Gaza university becomes a shelter for displaced Palestinians
Members of the al-Basyouni family, displaced from Beit Hanoon, cook in their tent. [Jehad Alshrafi/AP Photo]
A bombed-out Gaza university becomes a shelter for displaced Palestinians
Tents for displaced Palestinians are set up at the Islamic University of Gaza compound. [Jehad Alshrafi/AP Photo]
A bombed-out Gaza university becomes a shelter for displaced Palestinians
Manal Zaanin, a mother of six, has converted a filing cabinet into a makeshift oven to bake pita bread, which she sells to other families. [Jehad Alshrafi/AP Photo]
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A bombed-out Gaza university becomes a shelter for displaced Palestinians
Her children and other relatives lay out the dough on mattresses in one of the classrooms. [Jehad Alshrafi/AP Photo]
A bombed-out Gaza university becomes a shelter for displaced Palestinians
Water is distributed at the Islamic University in Gaza City, which now serves as a shelter for displaced Palestinians. [Jehad Alshrafi/AP Photo]
A bombed-out Gaza university becomes a shelter for displaced Palestinians
Displaced Palestinians walk by tents at the Islamic University of Gaza compound amid the ongoing Israeli war on Gaza. [Jehad Alshrafi/AP Photo]


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