On September 22, 2025, early in the morning, Israeli forces stormed Birzeit University, north of Ramallah in the central occupied West Bank, with a large force, backed by armoured vehicles, dozens of soldiers, and a drone. They smashed the university gates and stormed the campus from all sides, after detaining and assaulting university guards.

Occupation soldiers wreaked havoc on university facilities, destroying student movement activities and tearing up banners bearing national slogans and pro-Gaza slogans, as well as pictures of martyrs.

The occupation forces also posted leaflets threatening the Islamic Bloc, the student wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas, warning against its activities, while confiscating banners and signs belonging to the student movement.

Dean of Student Affairs at Birzeit University, Ghassan Barghouthi, said that 11 Israeli armored vehicles stormed the campus and that soldiers assaulted five security personnel, causing them injuries and bruises. He explained that the raid included several buildings and colleges, most notably the Faculty of Arts, the Faculty of Arts, and the Nasib Shaheen Theater. He noted that the occupation forces destroyed murals in the theater and some of the belongings that had been prepared to welcome new students to the university, and hung threatening leaflets. He pointed out that the murals speak about the situation of the academic institutions destroyed in the Gaza Strip.

Birzeit University says Israeli forces assaulted the university security, while arresting the president of the Palestinian Scholars League from Hebron.

At least two students were arrested during that raid. Meanwhile, Israeli occupation forces arrested Birzeit University student Yousef Al-Hajj Muhammad after raiding his home in the village of Al-Mughayyir, northeast of Ramallah.

The reports suggest that the raids are both punitive (arrests, punishment) and preventative (targeting suspected militant infrastructure).

An Educide / Scholasticide

Human rights / academic institutions are increasingly sounding alarms about the effects of these operations on civil and educational rights. Since 2002, Birzeit University has endured 24 raids, and this assault is the fifth invasion of the campus since the beginning of the genocide in Gaza. As last year, the assault comes at a particularly critical moment, as the university community wraps up the summer semester and begins preparations for the fall term.

According to Right2Educ statement, "this is not an isolated incident, but part of a broader, systematic assault on higher education institutions across Palestine. The repeated raids on Birzeit, like the destruction of universities in Gaza, are calculated attempts to crush academic freedom, break the spirit of our students and faculty, and erase the foundations of Palestinian intellectual and cultural life."

Birzeit University statement:

– “As part of systematic repression policies, and in blatant violation of all international norms and conventions that prohibit attacks on academic institutions, the occupation forces stormed the university campus from several entrances in a barbaric and aggressive act. This crime comes as part of their ongoing assaults against our people and institutions, and just days before the university was set to welcome new students for the start of the academic year.”

– “During this assault, the occupation detained and bound campus security staff and assaulted them, injuring two of them.”

– “They raided several buildings and caused damage to their contents, in addition to distributing threatening leaflets targeting students and the university.”

– “This raid is not an isolated incident, but rather part of an organized policy targeting Palestinian higher education institutions, amid the ongoing genocidal assault on the Gaza Strip.”

– “We call on academic and human rights institutions around the world to shoulder their humanitarian, moral, and legal responsibilities.”