Seven Palestinians killed in Gaza as Israeli strikes hit Islamic University campus

At least seven Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip, including a strike on a university campus in Gaza City, according to reports on Sunday.

Three security guards died when an Israeli air strike hit the Islamic University. It was the second attack on the institution within a few hours. In the earlier drone strike, seven female students were wounded by flying shrapnel, and one of them was seriously hurt and taken to a nearby field hospital.

Al Jazeera correspondent Hani Mahmoud reached the scene right after the second strike. "The aftermath was massive," he said, describing bloodstains and torn remains on the ground, and the smell of burning concrete mixed with blood. He said the Al Jazeera team had just finished filming at the site and had greeted the three guards shortly before they were killed. "We could hear the hissing sound of flying shrapnel everywhere to the point we thought we were going to be hit," he said.

Elsewhere in the Strip, the Nasser Medical Complex reported that Israeli shelling in al-Mawasi, in Khan Younis, killed two people and wounded several others, including a child. The Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that an Israeli drone strike east of Deir el-Balah in central Gaza killed one person. It also said another person was killed and several were wounded in an attack on al-Rashid Street, near Hamad Hospital in northern Gaza.

The Popular Resistance Committees in Palestine condemned the strikes on the university. The group called on mediators and international guarantors to intervene to halt Israeli violations.

The attacks add to the damage already suffered by Gaza's education sector. UNESCO says nearly 95 percent of the territory's higher education campuses have been destroyed or damaged since the war began in October 2023. Mahmoud said most buildings at the Islamic University were already destroyed before Sunday, with only a couple still partly standing. He called the strikes a reminder that a sense of security is "painfully out of reach, even inside the place where students are supposed to be learning without the fear of these attacks."

The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza says at least 1,551 people have been killed and 5,573 injured since the ceasefire began in October 2025. The overall toll since October 2023 stands at 74,544 dead and at least 175,692 wounded.

Israel also continues to extend its hold inside the territory, with almost two-thirds of Gaza now under Israeli military control or subject to restrictions. Palestinians there are also facing a worsening food crisis, driven by ongoing closures of crossings and reduced international funding for aid.