In Gaza, studying lets you 'not think about death all the time'
Narmin al-Zeitonia earned her bachelor's degree in agricultural science in early May, graduating at the top of her class at Gaza's Al-Azhar University. Yet the university, just like the other 11 higher education institutions in the Gaza Strip, had been reduced to rubble by Israeli bombings in the fall of 2023.
After having been damaged three times by previous Israeli offensives, the agriculture department in which Narmin had attended her classes – which had recently been rebuilt, thanks to a donation from the king of Morocco – was completely destroyed this time. Despite this, the 23-year-old student managed to continue her studies, thanks to an online teaching program launched by the three main universities in the Palestinian enclave – Al-Azhar, Al-Aqsa, and the Islamic University of Gaza – in the summer of 2024
In the first six months of the war in Gaza, after it was triggered by the Hamas terrorist attack of October 7, 2023, the entire education sector was paralyzed by chaos. Three university heads, hundreds of professors and thousands of students were killed, while the rest – just like all of Gaza's population – were displaced, following evacuation orders by the Israeli army. All of a sudden, nearly 90,000 students saw their academic careers interrupted.
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France 24
7 days ago
- France 24
With missiles overhead, Tel Aviv residents huddle underground
For those with no safe shelters near their homes, the city's underground stations and car parks have become vital refuges since the war began on June 13. Despite nightly missile barrages, Israel's casualty toll has remained relatively low, with authorities repeatedly stressing the importance of taking cover in life-saving protected spaces. "The day after the Israeli intervention in Iran began, there was an explosion, a bomb not far from my home, and the entire shelter I was in shock," Muriel Azria, 58, who works in tourism, told AFP in a Tel Aviv metro station. She arrives prepared every evening with her suitcase and her dog, ready for a night on her council-provided mattress set up on the platform. "From the moment I enter the subway, which is magnificent, I calm down," she said. "It's not very comfortable, but at least I'm not afraid, we hear much less booming." "There are people, everyone is generally very nice," she told AFP. Israeli residents receive blaring phone alerts via SMS to warn them of incoming Iranian missiles, often in the early hours of the morning. These are often followed by the wail of overhead air raid sirens. Among the haphazardly placed mattresses on the platforms of the metro stations, some people clutch phones while others play cards, do crosswords or chat to pass the time underground. For 86-year-old retiree Yudit Kamara, who does not have a shelter at home, the daily journey to the underground station has become an ordeal. "It's too much, I don't have the strength anymore to go through this. It's really difficult," she told AFP. "All these children here, all this mess, and it's really cold and not so comfortable. But what other choice do we have? Where will we go?" she asked, stifling a sob. More than 60 percent of Israelis do not have a safe shelter at home, according to the NGO Latet, which distributes emergency kits, food parcels and children's games to the most vulnerable families. 'Need to be strong' "I'm very nervous but I need to be strong for my child," said 48-year-old Erlenn Solomon, who has slept every night in an underground station since the start of the conflict. "As a mom, you need to be strong." Israel's economic hub Tel Aviv has been particularly targeted by Iran's missiles since the start of the conflict on June 13. The full extent of the damage from Iran's attacks on Israel is not known due to military censorship rules, but at least 50 impacts have been acknowledged nationwide and 24 people have died, according to official figures. Once a rare sight in a country with highly sophisticated air defences, Israelis have now become somewhat used to waking up to images of blown-out buildings and rubble-strewn streets. As well as the metro, some have sought shelter from the bombing in the depths of underground car parks. "It's terrible. I've had some moments where I've told my parents I don't want to do this anymore, I want to go home, back to the apartment where we live close," said Maya Papirany, 27, speaking four storeys below ground. "Then they remind me of the dangers of not being down here," she added. Some sit in plastic chairs while others lie in sleeping bags with their eyes glued to their phones to follow the situation above ground. Papirany now sleeps alongside her mother and children on a mattress on the floor of a car park lined with tents. Beside her, a young girl sleeps soundly. "They're not scared of the bombs. I think they're too young to really understand what's going on, and they don't really understand the seriousness of it, so they think it's, like, a fun game," she said.
France 24
22-06-2025
- France 24
'Nothing left': Israelis wake to devastation after US attack on Iran
In both Haifa and areas around Tel Aviv, the scenes were all too similar. Rubble filled streets at impact sites as the facades of apartment buildings were eviscerated by the falling projectiles, as rescue teams picked through the debris looking for people. In the Ramat Aviv neighbourhood near Tel Aviv, the mere skeletons of homes were left standing following the barrage, with the wooden frames visible amid a sea of debris. As the country was jolted awake by air raid sirens warning residents of air attacks, many in Ramat Aviv left their shelters later to discover the destruction. A man and woman embraced each other and cried. "Our entire house was destroyed -- there's nothing left," said Aviad Chernichovsky, who had rushed out of his home to get to a shelter. Several elderly residents were placed on chairs and beds to allow for medical evacuation. One woman, injured in the face, appeared anxious as paramedics led her away from the rubble. Officials were still taking stock of the damage. "Houses here were hit very, very badly," Tel Aviv mayor Ron Huldai said at the scene. "Those who were in the shelter are all safe and well. The damage is very, very extensive, but in terms of human life, we are okay." Devastating power The Israeli police said in a statement that they had been deployed to at least two other impact sites, one in Haifa in the north and another in Ness Ziona, south of Tel Aviv. A public square in a residential area of Haifa was left strewn with rubble and surrounding shops and homes were heavily damaged. Palm trees withstood the impact in a small public garden, while storefronts were bent, shop windows shattered, and air conditioners left dangling from building facades. Sirens however did not sound in this area. Authorities said they were actively working to clarify what happened. "The possibility of a malfunction with the interceptor (of the air defence system) is under investigation," said an army spokesperson. Two salvos of missiles were launched at Israel from around 7:30 am (0430 GMT), the Israeli military said. Iran has been firing daily missile barrages at Israel for over a week, since a wide-ranging Israeli attack on the Islamic republic's nuclear installations and military bases triggered war. Even still, at least 50 impacts have been officially acknowledged nation-wide with the country's air defence batteries unable to prevent all of the strikes. Iran's armed forces said Sunday's barrage targeted multiple sites in Israel including Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv, and relied on some of their most sophisticated long-range missiles with "devastating warhead power".
Le Figaro
17-06-2025
- Le Figaro
At the Arab World Institute: Gaza's Rescued Treasures, Witnesses to a Deep History
The Paris museum is reopening the crates of ancient artifacts unearthed in the Palestinian territory. For years, this heritage has been in exile in Geneva due to the conflict with Israel. A Byzantine mosaic with an animal theme welcomes visitors to the Arab World Institute (IMA) in Paris. Among the depictions of exotic wild animals, a rabbit attempts to climb a palm tree. This is just about the only joyful note in this exhibition of Gaza's rescued treasures. Among the amphorae, statuettes, funerary steles, clay oil lamps and enormous stone anchors and mooring rings, a beautiful Aphrodite stands out. This white marble statue sits alongside a translucent alabaster vase adorned with lotuses, as well as a stunning treasure of 17,000 pieces of agglomerated silver. This currency was in use during the Byzantine period. À lire aussi It's Official: Wealth Comes at the Cost of Sleep These 130 artifacts are the result of joint Franco-Palestinian excavations undertaken in 1995 on the coastal strip, following the Oslo Accords. The excavations were led by the local antiquities service and the École biblique et archéologique française de Jérusalem (EBAF), which was founded in 1890 and is the oldest research center in these fields in the Holy Land. An exile that began in 2000 Some artifacts also come from the collection of Jawdat Khoudary, a Palestinian who made his fortune in the construction industry. He donated his entire collection to the Palestinian National Authority in 2018. In 2023, when the bombings in response to Hamas' terrorist attack began, most of it was housed in his villa in northern Gaza. It was a private museum, the only one in the area, pending the construction of a public museum. The Israeli army turned it into a command base and transformed the garden into a tank depot. More than 4,000 objects, including an avenue of columns and capitals, are missing or seriously damaged, according to a cartel. What we see at the IMA, however, was safely preserved in crates which were stored at the Geneva Freeport. The exile of this lot began in 2000. While they were waiting to join the future public museum in Gaza, the artifacts were on embassy tours to various European museums, including the IMA. When, after Hamas seized power in the enclave in 2006, the blockade prevented their return there, the Geneva Museum of Art and History, the site of their final stop, took charge of their conservation. À lire aussi The Astonishing Life of Nude Models, Heirs to an Artistic Tradition in Decline 'These pieces are survivors,' says Jean-Baptiste Humbert, a prominent figure among the Dominican friars, who led the excavations from their beginnings until the end of 2023. Humbert notably presided over the discovery of Anthedon, a fortified port dating back to the 8th century BC. 'The extent of the damage caused by recent bombardments is unknown,' the statement reads as we walk past the photos and plans of the site. 'All this heritage is in transit or exile, like most Gazans,' comment scenographers Elias and Yousef Anastas, Palestinian architects living between Paris and Bethlehem. To convey this notion, they created wheeled display stands for these treasures. 'You have before you the witnesses of some five thousand years of history,' says Élodie Bouffard, head of exhibitions at the IMA and curator of this event. Since the Bronze Age, Gaza has been an oasis at the crossroads of maritime and caravan routes. Three hundred sites of heritage interest have been identified there. The influence of multiple civilizations was evident: Canaanite, Egyptian, Philistine, Neo-Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine and Arab. This represents 365 square kilometers of trade and prosperity punctuated by wars and humanitarian crises. 94 points of historical, cultural or religious interest, damaged or ravaged As with the foundations of the port of Anthédon, the Saint Hilarion monastery with its fabulous Paradise mosaic — a site UNESCO included on its list of World Heritage in Danger in the summer of 2024 — or Qasr al-Basha, the Pasha's Palace, a relic of the 13th century, where Napoleon Bonaparte slept for a few nights during his Egyptian campaign, a physical inventory is being compiled as much as possible. The EBAF warehouse itself is under rubble, along with its archives, shards and papers alike. Was there looting? No one knows, not even René Elter, Jean-Baptiste Humbert's successor. Maps on the walls give the full measure of the tragedy. On March 25, based on satellite images, UNESCO inventoried 94 damaged or ravaged sites of historical, cultural or religious interest. There's an immense contrast between the apocalypse depicted in recent photographs and the previously unpublished pictures of the Gaza oasis at the beginning of the 20th century. These are modern prints from the EBAF's collection of glass plates, documenting life between 1905 and 1926. Has October 7, 2023, also destroyed this deep history? Fortunately, many have deployed great energy to preserve this history, including the 40 students of Intiqal ('transmission' in Arabic). Since 2017, this program has been implemented in Palestine by the NGO Première Urgence Internationale, with the support of EBAF, the French Development Agency, the British Council and the Aliph Foundation, the world's leading fund dedicated to the protection or rehabilitation of heritage weakened by war, climate change or natural disasters. Nothing will be easy in this area, where two-thirds of the buildings are in ruins and their surroundings are not yet safe. But everyone believes it's not impossible. 'Rescued Treasures from Gaza: 5000 Years of History,' at the Arab World Institute (Paris 5th arrondissement), until November 2. Tel.: +33 1 40 51 38 38.
