We don’t know if relatives & friends are dead or alive in Gaza: Palestinian students

By Mehboob Inamdar

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:

“Currently, our country is passing through one of the worst conflicts. We have been out of contact for the past 30 days. We don’t know whether our family members, relatives and friends are alive or dead,” said some Palestinian students who are pursuing courses within the jurisdiction Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University.

Students from different countries of the world including Yemen, Thailand, Somalia, Kenya, Sudan, Nepal, Syria, Iraq and Palestine take admission to undergraduate, and postgraduate courses and Ph D research in the university departments and affiliated colleges every year.

There are two categories of international students. The first group consists of those students who come here for education by bearing their own educational expenses while other foreign students get the Government of India’s scholarship under the Indian Council for Cultural Relations.

There is an armed conflict between Palestinian-supported groups and Israeli forces in Gaza City. The conflict that began on October 7 continues even after one month. Because of this, there is a blackout as the electricity, Internet and other communication media were discontinued in the Gaza Strip which is Palestinian territory.

Some Palestinian students who do not want to disclose their identity to this newspaper because of instructions from their embassy told this newspaper that they did not know whether their family members, relatives and friends living in Gaza City are dead or alive.

“What we learned through social media 20 days ago is that there is no medicine, food and water for the residents of Gaza. There is no source of communication now after the conflict intensified in the recent days,” they said.

They said that they were grateful to the Indian Government for sending relief materials to Palestinians in hours of crisis.

“We have been in pain and agony since the war began and experienced sleepless nights. The impact of war will be an irreparable loss to the community. We had met our family members and friends around a year ago. There was no indication that there would be intense conflict. We pray for peace and justice. There is a huge loss of humanity. The common man is affected badly by the conflict and nobody takes care of him/her. It is not certain whether we will be able to continue our education or not if we do not get money from our family members,” they added.