Al-Azhar University – Gaza (AUG; ) is a

Palestinian Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...

, public, non-profit, and independent higher education institution. During the

first intifada The First Intifada (), also known as the First Palestinian Intifada, was a sustained series of Nonviolent resistance, non-violent protests, acts of civil disobedience, Riot, riots, and Terrorism, terrorist attacks carried out by Palestinians ...

, Palestinian Leader

Yasser Arafat Yasser Arafat (4 or 24 August 1929 – 11 November 2004), also popularly known by his Kunya (Arabic), kunya Abu Ammar, was a Palestinian political leader. He was chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) from 1969 to 2004, Presid ...

issued a decree in September 1991 to establish a Palestinian national university. AUG opened on 18 October 1991 in a two-story building with 725 students enrolled in two faculties; the Faculty of Education and the Faculty of Sharia and Law (now the Faculty of Law). Prior to being demolished by Israeli forces during the

Gaza war The Gaza war is an armed conflict in the Gaza Strip and southern Israel fought since 7 October 2023. A part of the unresolved Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Israeli–Palestinian and Gaza–Israel conflict, Gaza–Israel conflicts dating ...

, the school had more than 14,000 enrolled students across 12 colleges and 80 disciplines; the school also offered 36 master's degree programs and five doctoral programs.

History

AUG opened its doors in 1991 with the help of

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

and the Jordanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs with only two faculties: the Faculty of Education and the Faculty of Sharia and Law (now the Faculty of Law). In 1992, four faculties: the Faculty of Pharmacy, the Faculty of Agriculture and Environment, the Faculty of Science, and the Faculty of Arts & Human Sciences were established, followed by the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences. The Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences was established at another stage of AUG development in 1997 to fulfill the medical needs of the Palestinian community. In 1999, the Faculty of Medicine, a branch of the Palestinian Faculty of Medicine in

Al-Quds University Al-Quds University () is a public university in the Jerusalem Governorate, Palestine. The main campus is located in Abu Dis town, near Jerusalem, with three more campuses in Jerusalem and other campuses in Ramallah and Hebron. It was establish ...

Abu Dis Abu Dis or Abu Deis () is a Palestinian village in the West Bank, in the Jerusalem Governorate of the State of Palestine, bordering Jerusalem. Since the 1995 Oslo II Accord, Abu Dis land has been mostly part of " Area B", under Israeli military ...

, was opened as the first medical faculty in the Gaza Strip. The Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology was launched in 2001 to keep abreast of new knowledge and technology. In 2007, the Faculty of Dentistry was opened to improve the oral health care of the Palestinian community. The Faculty of Sharia was reopened as a distinct faculty in 2009. In 2015, King Hassan II for Environmental Sciences and Agriculture Building was inaugurated on the new campus in the

Al-Mughraqa Al-Mughraqa (, also known as Abu Middein) is a Palestinian town in the Gaza Governorate of the Gaza Strip, located six kilometers southwest of Gaza City. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), al-Mughraqa had a populatio ...

area. The construction of this building was funded by

King Mohammed VI of Morocco Mohammed VI (; born 21 August 1963) is King of Morocco. A member of the Alawi dynasty, he acceded to the throne on 23 July 1999, upon the death of his father, King Hassan II of Morocco, Hassan II. Upon ascending to the throne, Mohammed initial ...

. Two buildings, the auditorium and the Faculty of Arts and Human Sciences were funded by the

Saudi Fund for Development The Saudi Fund for Development (SFD) (Arabic: الصندوق السعودي للتنمية) is a Saudi Arabian government agency that assists developing countries by financing social and infrastructure projects. Its development program seeks to ...

and will be annexed to the new campus in Al-Mughraqa.

Destruction during Gaza war

In November 2023, the university's facilities were destroyed by Israeli airstrikes during Israel's bombing of the Gaza Strip. The IDF performed additional demolition in December, after alleging it discovered tunnels under the university and weapons stored at the university. The university suffered more than $200 million in losses during the Gaza war. Due to the severity of the attacks on the facility by the Israeli military, South Africa used the university's destruction as evidence in

South Africa's genocide case against Israel The ''Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip (South Africa v. Israel)'' is an ongoing case that was brought before the International Court of Justice on 29 December 2023 by Sou ...

Faculties

* Faculty of

Agriculture and Environment ''Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment'' is an international peer-reviewed scientific journal published eighteen times per year by Elsevier. It covers research on the interrelationships between the natural environments and agroecosystems, and the ...

* Faculty of Applied

Medical Sciences Medicine is the science and practice of caring for patients, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pract ...

* Faculty of

Arts The arts or creative arts are a vast range of human practices involving creativity, creative expression, storytelling, and cultural participation. The arts encompass diverse and plural modes of thought, deeds, and existence in an extensive ...

and

Human Sciences Human science (or human sciences in the plural) studies the philosophical, biological, social, justice, and cultural aspects of human life. Human science aims to expand the understanding of the human world through a broad interdisciplinary appro ...

* Faculty of

Dentistry Dentistry, also known as dental medicine and oral medicine, is the branch of medicine focused on the Human tooth, teeth, gums, and Human mouth, mouth. It consists of the study, diagnosis, prevention, management, and treatment of diseases, dis ...

* Faculty of

Economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

and Administrative Sciences * Faculty of

Engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

and

Information Technology Information technology (IT) is a set of related fields within information and communications technology (ICT), that encompass computer systems, software, programming languages, data processing, data and information processing, and storage. Inf ...

* Faculty of

Education Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...

* Faculty of

Law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

* Faculty of

Medicine Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...

* Faculty of

Pharmacy Pharmacy is the science and practice of discovering, producing, preparing, dispensing, reviewing and monitoring medications, aiming to ensure the safe, effective, and affordable use of medication, medicines. It is a miscellaneous science as it ...

* Faculty of

Science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

* Faculty of

Sharia Sharia, Sharī'ah, Shari'a, or Shariah () is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition based on Islamic holy books, scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran, Qur'an and hadith. In Islamic terminology ''sharīʿah'' ...

Notable alumni

Hiba Abu Nada Hiba Kamal Abu Nada (, ; 24 June 1991 – 20 October 2023) was a Palestinian poet, novelist, nutritionist, women's rights activist and Wikimedian. Her novel ''Oxygen is not for the dead'' won second place in the Sharjah Award for Arab Creativ ...

(1991–2023),

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...

, and

nutritionist A nutritionist is a person who advises others on matters of food and Human nutrition, nutrition and their impacts on health. Some people specialize in particular areas, such as sports nutrition, public health, or animal nutrition, among other disci ...

, killed by IDF airstrike. * Sha'ban al-Dalou (2004/2005–2024), Palestinian

software engineer Software engineering is a branch of both computer science and engineering focused on designing, developing, testing, and maintaining software applications. It involves applying engineering principles and computer programming expertise to develop ...

student, killed by IDF airstrike in the Al-Aqsa Hospital massacre. *

Motaz Azaiza Motaz Hilal Azaiza (; born ) is a Palestinian photojournalist from Gaza. He is known for covering the Gaza war, drawing a large social media following. In 2023, he was named Man of the Year by ''GQ Middle East'' and one of his photos, showing ...

(), Palestinian

photojournalist Photojournalism is journalism that uses images to tell a news story. It usually only refers to still images, but can also refer to video used in broadcast journalism. Photojournalism is distinguished from other close branches of photography (suc ...

. * Medo Halimy (2004/2005–2024), Palestinian

social media personality A social media influencer, or simply influencer (also known as an online influencer), is a person who builds a grassroots online presence through engaging content such as photos, videos, and updates. This is done by using direct audience intera ...

and vlogger, political science and economics student, killed by IDF airstrike on

Khan Yunis refugee camp The Khan Yunis refugee camp, also called Khan Yunis Camp (), is a Palestinian refugee camp in the Khan Yunis Governorate just west of the city of Khan Yunis and two kilometers east of the Mediterranean coast in the southern Gaza Strip. While UNR ...

References

Bibliography

* Bowen, Donna Lee, and Early, Evelyn A. (2002). ''Everyday Life in the Muslim Middle East: Second Edition''. Indiana University Press.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Al-Azhar University - Gaza Universities and colleges established in 1991 1991 establishments in Palestine Buildings and structures in Gaza City Universities and colleges in Gaza Strip

History

Destruction during Gaza war

Faculties

Notable alumni

See also

References

Bibliography

External links