Said A. Alzebda (died 2023) was a Palestinian electrical engineer and academic. He was president of the

University College of Applied Sciences University College of Applied Sciences (UCAS) is a technical college in Gaza, Palestine founded in 1998. It offers 40 majors in engineering, health, technology, administration, education and the humanities. The school had a student population o ...

until his death in Israeli airstrikes on 31 December 2023.

Early life and education

Born in the Zeitoun neighborhood in

Gaza City Gaza City, also called Gaza, is a city in the Gaza Strip, Palestine, and the capital of the Gaza Governorate. Located on the Mediterranean coast, southwest of Jerusalem, it was home to Port of Gaza, Palestine's only port. With a population of ...

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip, also known simply as Gaza, is a small territory located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea; it is the smaller of the two Palestinian territories, the other being the West Bank, that make up the State of Palestine. I ...

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

, Said Anwar Al Zebda studied

telecommunications engineering Telecommunications engineering is a subfield of electronics engineering which seeks to design and devise systems of communication at a distance. The work ranges from basic circuit design to strategic mass developments. A telecommunication eng ...

, then obtained his master's and

doctorate degrees A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

electronic communications Telecommunication, often used in its plural form or abbreviated as telecom, is the transmission of information over a distance using electronic means, typically through cables, radio waves, or other communication technologies. These means of ...

and

computer engineering Computer engineering (CE, CoE, or CpE) is a branch of engineering specialized in developing computer hardware and software. It integrates several fields of electrical engineering, electronics engineering and computer science. Computer engi ...

from the

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public research university in Nottingham, England. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. Nottingham's main campus (University Park Campus, Nottingh ...

, United Kingdom.

Career

After graduating from the

in Gaza, Said Al-Zebda was appointed as head of the developmental programs, then head of the Yukas Technology Incubator, and then assistant to the college president for developmental affairs, before the college's board of trustees announced his appointment as the new president of the University College of Applied Sciences, succeeding Rifat Naim Rustam.

Death

On December 31, 2023, Israeli forces launched an aerial attack on the Zeitoun neighborhood in Gaza City, bombing a number of buildings and homes, including the home of Said Al Zebda, who was killed along with his wife and children as a result of the Israeli aerial bombardment. Said Al Zebda was not the only Palestinian academic killed by Israeli forces during the

Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip The Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip is a major part of the Gaza war. Starting on 7 October 2023, immediately after the October 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel, Hamas-led attack on Israel, Israel began bombing of the Gaza Strip, bombing the Ga ...

following

Operation Al-Aqsa Flood On October 7, 2023, Hamas and several other Palestinians, Palestinian militant groups launched coordinated armed incursions from the Gaza Strip into the Gaza envelope of southern Israel, the first invasion of Israeli territory since the 1948 ...

. Sufian Tayeh, president of the

Islamic University of Gaza The Islamic University of Gaza (), also known as IUG and IU Gaza, is an independent Palestinian university established in 1978 in Gaza City. It was the first higher education institution to be established in the Gaza Strip. The university has ...

, was killed along with his entire family in the

massacre A massacre is an event of killing people who are not engaged in hostilities or are defenseless. It is generally used to describe a targeted killing of civilians Glossary of French words and expressions in English#En masse, en masse by an armed ...

committed by the

Israeli army The Israeli Ground Forces () are the Army, ground forces of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). The commander is the GOC Army Headquarters, General Officer Commanding with the rank of major general, the ''Mazi'', subordinate to the Chief of the Gen ...

in the Faluja area in the northern Gaza Strip town of Jabaliya.

References

Year of birth missing 2023 deaths Palestinian electrical engineers 21st-century Palestinian academics 21st-century Palestinian writers Heads of universities and colleges 21st-century engineers Alumni of the University of Nottingham {{Palestine-bio-stub