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Casualties taken to Istishari Arab Hospital in Ramallah following an Israeli army attack on Birzeit University.
Dozens of people were wounded after Israel’s army opened fire with live rounds, sound grenades, and tear gas at a prominent university in the occupied West Bank as students sat in classrooms and roamed the campus.
Israeli soldiers smashed open the university’s gates as panicked students and staff watched in shock on Tuesday.
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Three of the injured were shot in the legs, according to the Palestine Red Crescent Society. Five people suffered tear gas inhalation, and three were hit by flying shrapnel.
In a statement, Birzeit University said the attack “constitutes a flagrant and deliberate violation of the sanctity of universities and educational institutions”, the official Wafa news agency reported.
“Storming the campus in broad daylight and transforming it into a military zone reflects a systematic policy aimed at intimidating students, undermining their right to education, and targeting Palestinian consciousness,” it said.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health said 11 people arrived at the Istishari Arab Hospital in Ramallah for treatment.
The Israeli raid followed a student event in solidarity with thousands of Palestinian prisoners held incommunicado in Israeli jails, and coincided with a screening of the film “Hind Rajab”, a six-year-old girl shot dead by troops during the genocidal war on Gaza.
Israeli forces stormed the campus shortly before the screening. The Israeli army said it targeted a “gathering in support of terrorism” at the university.
‘Started shooting’
Reporting from Birzeit University, Al Jazeera’s Nida Ibrahim said that in total 41 people were wounded in the attack, with 11 hospitalised.
“It was unprecedented. People are telling us they’ve never seen anything like it. We are talking about the first time for an Israeli raid inside the campus where the students are taking their classes, and while the Israeli forces started shooting live ammunition, not just tear gas,” Ibrahim said.
“[For Palestinians] living under occupation, with limited options with so many restrictions, they rely on education to have jobs, to have a life, to sustain their families. But now we’re looking at a state of worry among many students. No place is immune from Israeli assaults.”
Palestine’s Ministry of Education and Higher Education condemned the violent incursion and said the attack disregarded all international norms and conventions when it comes to education facilities.
The assault will not “break the will of Palestinian students or staff”, the ministry said, calling on the International Association of Universities, the Association of Arab Universities, and international human rights organisations to denounce the Israeli shooting.
People walk past bloodstains where Palestinians were wounded by Israeli troops on Tuesday [Alaa Badarneh/EPA]‘Nail in the coffin’
Meanwhile, Israel on Tuesday cleared the final hurdle before starting construction on a controversial settlement project near East Jerusalem that would effectively cut the occupied West Bank into two, according to a government tender.
A tender seeking bids from developers clears the way to begin construction of the E1 project. The anti-settlement monitoring group Peace Now first reported the tender. Yoni Mizrahi, who runs the group’s settlement watch division, said initial work could begin within the month.
Settlement development in E1, an open tract of land east of Jerusalem, has been under consideration for more than two decades, but was frozen because of US pressure during previous administrations.
The international community overwhelmingly considers Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank to be illegal and an obstacle to peace.
The E1 project is especially contentious because it runs from the outskirts of Jerusalem deep into the occupied West Bank. Critics say it would prevent the establishment of a contiguous Palestinian state in the territory.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a far-right politician who oversees settlement policy, has long pushed for the plan to become a reality.
“The Palestinian state is being erased from the table not with slogans but with actions,” Smotrich said in August when Israel gave final approval to the plan. “Every settlement, every neighbourhood, every housing unit is another nail in the coffin of this dangerous idea.”
