GAZA CITY, October 26 (Aalimi Nation) – Israeli strikes on the Islamic University in Gaza City killed three people on Sunday, as attacks elsewhere in the territory brought the day's toll to at least eight, according to Gaza officials and hospital sources.
The Gaza university strike was the second to hit the campus within a few hours. An earlier drone strike wounded seven female students with flying shrapnel, one of them seriously, according to accounts from the scene. A later air strike then killed three people. Hospital officials said they received three bodies and treated eight wounded. University sources described the dead as employees, and other accounts called them security guards.
The Israeli military said it had been "targeting a terrorist from Hamas' military wing". It said it identified uninvolved people in the area and diverted the munition to reduce harm to them. The army said the incident was under review. It did not say whether the deaths at the university were accidental.
The Islamic University said its campus and surroundings were targeted twice on Sunday. It condemned the attacks and mourned those killed.
Other deaths across Gaza
Gaza's civil defence spokesman, Mahmoud Bassal, said five other people were killed on Sunday: three in strikes near Khan Younis in the south, one in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza and one northwest of Gaza City. Medical officials at the Nasser Medical Complex reported two people killed by shelling in the Al-Mawasi area of Khan Younis, where several others, including a child, were wounded. A further person was wounded by gunfire in the Jabalia refugee camp.
Education ministry's response
Gaza's education ministry condemned the university strike. "The global silence regarding attacks on students and universities serves as encouragement," it said. The ministry said that over the past six days, 10 students and educators had been killed by Israeli fire, and that 95 percent of academic institution buildings in Gaza had been damaged in the war. Separate estimates attributed to UNESCO put the share of higher education campuses destroyed or damaged since October 2023 at nearly 95 percent.
The truce and the wider toll
A truce has been in place in Gaza for more than a year, but it has not fully ended the violence. Gaza's health ministry says at least 1,551 Palestinians have been killed and 5,573 injured since the ceasefire began in October 2025. It puts the total toll since October 2023 at 74,544 killed and at least 175,692 wounded. Those figures are from the Gaza authorities and have not been independently verified.
Israel controls or restricts movement across a large part of the territory. Aid agencies have also warned of a worsening food situation linked to crossing closures and reduced international funding.
The Popular Resistance Committees, a Palestinian armed grouping, condemned the university attacks and urged mediators and international guarantors of the truce to act against what it called Israeli violations.
