Israeli Forces Have Raided A University In The Occupied West Bank And Fired At Students And Staff
The university’s president Talal Shahwan called it an assault on academic freedom, urging international protection.
Israeli forces have now raided a university in the occupied West Bank, firing live ammunition at students.
On Tuesday, Jan. 6, Israeli forces stormed the Birzeit University campus in Ramallah in about 20 army jeeps and broke down the main gate, trapping students, faculty members and staff inside.
Israeli forces then fired live ammunition, stun grenades and tear gas directly at students and members of the university community, according to a statement from Birzeit University.
11 Palestinians were injured and hospitalized, including three from live ammunition and others from shrapnel or gas inhalation.
The Israeli forces' invasion coincided with a student union sit-in protest on campus in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners.
It also disrupted a planned screening of the film, "The Voice of Hind Rajab", which is based on the true story of the final hours of six-year-old Palestinian girl Hind Rajab, who was killed by Israeli forces in Gaza in January 2024 when they attacked her family’s car and shot at it 355 times.
A professor from Birzeit told Al Jazeera that the attack was unprovoked, unprecedented and aims to send a message to Palestinians that no place is immune to Israeli attacks.
The university’s president Talal Shahwan called it an assault on academic freedom, urging international protection.
“This daytime military invasion of Birzeit University constitutes part of a systematic policy pursued by the Zionist settler-colonial regime to intimidate students and undermine their right to education, with the aim of suppressing Palestinian consciousness and targeting national institutions,” the university said in a statement.
“In flagrant violation of international norms and conventions, the Zionist state continues to criminalize Palestinian education,” it added.
Under international humanitarian law, educational institutions and personnel in occupied territories like the West Bank must be protected.
More On Israel's Genocide In Gaza
Flavie Chen
Cherry Mohamed
Cherry Mohamed
