“The Hall Turned Red”: Survivors Recount Israeli Strike on University in Gaza

Part of the Series Struggle and Solidarity: Writing Toward Palestinian Liberation Did you know that Truthout is a nonprofit and independently funded by readers like you? If you value what we do, please support our work with a donation . At 10:15 am on October 25, 2026, an Israeli missile struck the courtyard in front of the female students’ lecture hall at Gaza’s Islamic University. Baraa Abu Hujeir, a 22-year-old English language student, was attending a linguistics lecture inside.

“We were in the linguistics lecture hall when we were suddenly hit by the blast. Stones scattered around us, and pieces of the windows, which were made of nylon and wood, flew toward us,” Abu Hujeir told me. She confirmed that approximately 130 female students were inside the hall, along with their lecturer, Dr. Khader Khader. Minutes before the strike, Abu Hujeir had been absorbed in the lecture despite the difficult conditions under which the university was attempting to continue teaching.

“I was excited, and the lecture was very interesting, despite the lack of resources. There was no electricity, no internet, and not even a blackboard,” she said. Related Story News Analysis | Politics & Elections Netanyahu May Lose Israeli Elections. That Won’t Save Gaza From Occupation. As living conditions here in Gaza deteriorate, we have little hope that Israel’s elections will ease our suffering. By Shahad Ali , T ruthout October 24, 2026 Truthout Getting to the university was not easy for Abu Hujeir, who lives with her family in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.

She spent around half an hour looking for transportation before making the 40-minute journey to the university. During the lecture, she was reading the presentation slides on Dr. Khader’s laptop when everything suddenly changed. “As I was reading the slides, the hall turned red, and stones scattered around us,” she said. According to Abu Hujeir, there had been no warning before the explosion. As the blast rang out, the students began screaming.

Dr. Khader’s laptop and Abu Hujeir’s own iPad were damaged. But what frightened her most was seeing her classmate Salwa injured in the face: “Her face was covered in blood,” Abu Hujeir recalled. At first, Abu Hujeir thought the missile had struck the lecture hall itself. She and the other students went outside to see what had happened and discovered that the missile had landed directly in front of the hall, approximately one meter away, according to her account.

Fear quickly spread among the students, especially when they began hearing calls for the university to be evacuated immediately amid concerns that it could be attacked again. “You Leave”: A Professor Insists His Students Evacuate First Dr. Khader, 80, was inside the linguistics lecture hall explaining the lesson when the strike transformed the room into a scene of panic and confusion. After the explosion, he called for the university to be evacuated immediately.

However, he refused to leave the hall until he had made sure that all the female students had evacuated safely. Abu Hujeir says she tried to take his hand to help him leave, but he refused and told her, “You leave.” As he prepared to evacuate, Dr. Khader saw that his car, which he had parked outside the entrance to the lecture hall, had been damaged by the strike. Its windows were shattered, and its tires were damaged. He stood looking at it sadly, tears in his eyes, repeating, “My car is gone.”

After leaving the hall, Abu Hujeir found more than six injured people outside, their bodies covered in blood. Among the injured was her 18-year-old classmate, Ahmed Nasser. Nasser had been waiting on the steps outside the female students’ lecture hall for Dr. Khader so he could help him move to the male students’ lecture hall. During the war, Dr. Khader had sustained an injury to his foot that left him unable to move independently. He needed someone to hold his hand and assist him when walking.

But the explosion struck before Nasser could help his professor. “At the moment of the attack, I was sitting on the steps outside the girls’ lecture hall, waiting for the doctor. When the explosion happened, I fell to the ground and couldn’t run,” Nasser told me. His fear was compounded by his inability to move and his uncertainty about the extent of his injuries. “I couldn’t run, so I was screaming and crying,” he said, his voice breaking.

“I thought I had been paralyzed and would lose my ability to move.” Nasser’s back was bleeding. His university classmates tried to provide first aid, using a piece of cloth to stop the bleeding before he was transferred to Al-Quds Hospital in the Tal al-Hawa area of Gaza City. He had lost consciousness by the time he reached the hospital. The first strike was not the end of the violence at the Islamic University that day. At 12:30 pm, a second strike hit members of the university’s security team who were still inside the campus in the university courtyard.

The Islamic University confirmed in a statement that the attack killed three security personnel: Sami Baroud, 52; Ashraf Dahlan, 47; and Shadi Abu Ataya, 41. After these attacks, the university carried out minor repairs, mainly fixing the broken windows and damaged chairs. The university suspended classes for a few days and resumed operations on October 31. According to a comprehensive assessment conducted by UNESCO , the Palestinian Ministry of Education and Higher Education, and the Arab World for Research and Development (AWRAD), approximately 95 percent of higher education campuses in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed since October 2023.

Of the 38 campuses assessed, 22 were completely destroyed, and 14 sustained varying levels of damage. The destruction has not only deprived thousands of students of their right to education but has also devastated the academic infrastructure that generations of Palestinians worked to build. Trauma Continues Long After the Strikes A day that had begun with a university lecture had become a series of traumatic events marked by fear, injuries, and loss.

The consequences continued long after the explosions had stopped. Nasser was admitted to the intensive care unit, where he remained unconscious for two days. When he regained consciousness, doctors discovered two shrapnel fragments in his back. Doctors managed to remove the first fragment, but they have been unable to extract the second because it is extremely close to his spinal column, Nasser said. He remains in the hospital, unable to move or resume his education, with no clear indication of when he will be able to return to his studies.

“I am now afraid that my condition will continue to deteriorate and that doctors may not be able to remove the shrapnel lodged near my spine,” he told me. The impact of the attacks extended beyond physical injuries and the damage to the university and people’s belongings: Students and their professors have also been left struggling with the psychological effects of what happened. Dr. Khader says he feels guilty toward his students because he was among those who insisted on resuming in-person classes at the Islamic University.

“During the attack, I felt immense fear because the missile landed just one meter away from us,” he said. “If the lecture hall itself had been hit, more than 100 people could have been killed.” The lecture that Abu Hujei had been following so enthusiastically before the explosion is no longer just an academic subject — it has become inseparable from the memories of fear, blood, and the screams of her classmates. She says it remains the most difficult experience she has endured since the beginning of Israel’s war on Gaza.

“I still remember the bombing, the sound of people screaming, and the sight of the injured,” she said. “Whenever I open my linguistics textbook to read, I can’t concentrate. I remember the attack, feel my heart tighten, and immediately close the book.” Media that fights fascism Truthout is funded almost entirely by readers — that’s why we can speak truth to power and cut against the mainstream narrative. But independent journalists at Truthout face mounting political repression under Trump.

We rely on your support to survive McCarthyist censorship. Please make a tax-deductible one-time or monthly donation. Share Share via Facebook Facebook Circle Icon Share via Bluesky Bluesky Circle Icon Share via Flipboard Flipboard Circle Icon Share via Mail Mail Circle Icon Share via Print More Share via Threads Share via Reddit Reddit Cirlce Icon Share via Pocket Pocket Circle Icon Share via Linkedin LinkedIn Circle Icon Share via Twitter Twitter Circle Icon Republish Republish This Article for Free Republishing Guidelines This article is licensed under Creative Commons ( CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 ), and you are free to share and republish under the following terms: Required: Required: You must credit Truthout and retain our links, as follows: "This article was originally published by Truthout."

Required: You must preserve the article exactly as it appears on our site. You cannot edit, shorten or otherwise alter the content. Required: You must clearly credit the author(s) and retain their byline. Prohibited: You cannot republish our photographs or illustrations without specific permission. Prohibited: You cannot use this work for commercial purposes. Article HTML Republish HTML code for copying <h1>“The Hall Turned Red”: Survivors Recount Israeli Strike on University in Gaza</h1> <p><strong>By Ohood Nassar</strong></p> <p><em>This article was originally published by </em> <a href src="https://truthout.org/articles/the-hall-turned-red-survivors-recount-israeli-strike-on-university-in-gaza/">Truthout</a></p> <p><strong><p>“I still remember the bombing, the sound of people screaming, and the sight of the injured,” said one student.</p></strong></p> <p class="wp-block-paragraph">At 10:15 am on October 25, 2026, an Israeli missile struck the courtyard in front of the female students’ lecture hall at Gaza’s Islamic University.

Baraa Abu Hujeir, a 22-year-old English language student, was attending a linguistics lecture inside.</p> <p class="wp-block-paragraph">“We were in the linguistics lecture hall when we were suddenly hit by the blast. Stones scattered around us, and pieces of the windows, which were made of nylon and wood, flew toward us,” Abu Hujeir told me.</p> <p class="wp-block-paragraph">She confirmed that approximately 130 female students were inside the hall, along with their lecturer, Dr. Khader Khader.</p> <p class="wp-block-paragraph">Minutes before the strike, Abu Hujeir had been absorbed in the lecture despite the difficult conditions under which the university was attempting to continue teaching.</p> <p class="wp-block-paragraph">“I was excited, and the lecture was very interesting, despite the lack of resources.

There was no electricity, no internet, and not even a blackboard,” she said.</p> <p class="wp-block-paragraph">Getting to the university was not easy for Abu Hujeir, who lives with her family in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza. She spent around half an hour looking for transportation before making the 40-minute journey to the university.</p> <p class="wp-block-paragraph">During the lecture, she was reading the presentation slides on Dr. Khader’s laptop when everything suddenly changed.</p> <p class="wp-block-paragraph">“As I was reading the slides, the hall turned red, and stones scattered around us,” she said.</p> <p class="wp-block-paragraph">According to Abu Hujeir, there had been no warning before the explosion.

As the blast rang out, the students began screaming. Dr. Khader’s laptop and Abu Hujeir’s own iPad were damaged.</p> <p class="wp-block-paragraph">But what frightened her most was seeing her classmate Salwa injured in the face: “Her face was covered in blood,” Abu Hujeir recalled.</p> <p class="wp-block-paragraph">At first, Abu Hujeir thought the missile had struck the lecture hall itself. She and the other students went outside to see what had happened and discovered that the missile had landed directly in front of the hall, approximately one meter away, according to her account.</p> <p class="wp-block-paragraph">Fear quickly spread among the students, especially when they began hearing calls for the university to be evacuated immediately amid concerns that it could be attacked again.</p> <h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a></a><strong>“You Leave”: A Professor Insists His Students Evacuate First</strong></h2> <p class="wp-block-paragraph">Dr. Khader, 80, was inside the linguistics lecture hall explaining the lesson when the strike transformed the room into a scene of panic and confusion.</p> <p class="wp-block-paragraph">After the explosion, he called for the university to be evacuated immediately.

However, he refused to leave the hall until