30 March 2026
A group of international academics have launched an archive commemorating Palestinian scholars killed during the ongoing Israeli assault on Gaza since 2023. The initiative documents the lives, work and contributions of university professors, researcher and educators, and is part of a broader effort to document what scholars and human rights advocates describe as “scholasticide”: the systematic destruction of Gaza’s higher education sector. Since October 2023, all of Gaza’s universities have been severely damaged or destroyed. More than 57 university buildings have been flattened and 19 higher education institutions rendered inoperable. At least 200 faculty and more than 1200 students have been killed, while approximately 87,000 students have experienced near-total disruption to their studies.
Contributors to the archive stress that these scholars were not only educators but builders of Gaza’s intellectual life. Many had studied abroad and chose to return despite years of blockade and resource scarcity, dedicating themselves to teaching, research and institution-building under extremely difficult conditions.
The project also calls attention to the silence of many major academic institutions and professional associations worldwide. While organisations representing journalists, writers and medical professionals have publicly condemned the killing of their colleagues, the archive’s organisers urge universities, scholarly societies and academic journals to speak out in defence of intellectual life in Gaza and human solidarity with its scholars.
The archive draws on documentation from Palestinian and international sources, including academic institutions, human rights organizations, and colleagues of the deceased. Organizers describe it as an evolving project and invite scholars and institutions worldwide to contribute additional information and help preserve the memory of Gaza’s slain academics.
“This archive is both a memorial and a call for accountability,” the organizers said. “By recording the lives and achievements of these scholars, we seek to honor their contributions and ensure that the destruction of Gaza’s intellectual community is neither forgotten nor ignored.
REMEMBER THEM
Palestine Scholars
Murdered in the Gaza Genocide
Honoring the lives and legacies of Palestinian academics whose voices have been silenced
Fatima Ali Abu Owdah, How Alone You Were (2025)
Poetry in cover art excerpted from Mahmoud Darwish’s epic poem “Madīḥ al-ẓẓil al-‘ālī” (“In Praise of the High Shadow”):
Son of more than my father
How alone you were
The wheat is bitter
In the fields of others
And the water tastes of salt
The clouds are steel
And this star can scar
And you have to live and be alive
And in exchange for an olive
Have to give your skin
How alone you were
