The Jawaharlal Nehru Library (مكتبة جواهر لال نهرو) Library of Al-Azhar University (جامعة الأزهر - غزة) situated Jamal Ab-el-Nasir in Gaza City, was opened in January 2000. After 7 October 2023, it has been repeatedly bombed, and has sustained considerable damage, notably following airstrikes on 26 Oct 2023 and 4 Nov 2023, which targeted the whole Al-Azhar campus. A vast number of civilians were at the time sheltering in the university buildings.
The Jawaharlal Nehru Library was located in an independent building in the School of Humanities. It covered 4,800 m2, and contained approx. 400,000 books, of which none are left: they were all either burned or stolen. Also lost are 950 PhD theses and dissertations, and a further 700 student research projects.
Status and Inventory prior to 7 Oct 2023 : condition of the collections, holdings and equipment.
History
Entrance to the main building
of Al-Azhar University..
Source: Google Maps.
The central library of Al-Azhar University in Gaza (AUG) was inaugurated in June 2000 by the Indian Prime Minister Jaswant Singh. It was established thanks to a donation from the Government of India, which had been announced in Paris in 1996 [1].
It is named after Jawaharlal Nehru in recognition of India’s role in the development of educational infrastructure in Palestine [2]. A further donation from the Government of India made it possible to construct two additional floors for the Jawaharlal Nehru Library at Al-Azhar University [3].
Two faculty libraries depend on the central library: the Faculty of Agriculture Library (entry 12, Reading in Gaza)—the only faculty of agriculture in Gaza—and the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology Library (entry 59, Reading in Gaza).
The library’s collections are organized across six spaces: the Arabic library, the foreign-language library, the reference library, the periodicals and theses room, the Faculty of Agriculture room, and the hadith authentication room [4].
Destructions prior to October 7, 2023
In 2009, the Faculty of Agriculture Library was severely damaged during an Israeli airstrike. The extent of the destruction led the university administration to relocate to the central library the few materials that could be salvaged from the Faculty of Agriculture Library [5].
The Israeli bombings in the summer of 2014 also caused damage to the library. The central library published a series of 16 photos on its Flickr account dated August 10, 2014, showing the extent of the destruction [6].
On July 14, 2018, Israeli airstrikes heavily damaged Al-Azhar University, including its central library [7].
Current condition (as of July 21, 2025): state of collections, holdings, and equipment
Al-Azhar University building heavily damaged, Gaza, February 15, 2024.
Photo: AFP
Dates of destruction
October 11 [8], October 26 and November 4, 2023 [9]
Description of destructions and/or damage
Buildings
The central library is located in a standalone four-story building [10]. It covers a total area of 4,800 square meters [11] and is located on the literary campus [12].
Collections / documentary holdings
The library holds 70,000 books in Arabic and English, 8,000 reference works, 950 theses and dissertations, 100 periodical titles (including 60 in English and 14 in Arabic), 1,000 CDs, 700 student research papers, and 750 bulletins [13].
Part of this collection comes from donations, notably from the Indian ambassador (2,200 works) and a grant from the Academic Training Development Program in collaboration with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID; 1,288 works).
Airstrikes were also carried out on the Al-Azhar University campus on other dates, although it is not possible to determine whether they directly damaged the central library building itself.
These additional bombings occurred on October 11 and November 21, 2023 [14].
Circumstances of destruction
The library was hit by Israeli airstrikes on the university campus [15].
Description of destructions and/or damage
Building: Reports on the library’s condition are contradictory. Some sources, such as the third and fourth [16] preliminary reports on cultural sector damage, cite partial destruction caused by Israeli bombings. Al Jazeera reports considerable damage, particularly from the November 4, 2023 airstrike [17]. Other sources, such as the Institute for Palestine Studies [18] report total destruction.
Collections / Documentary holdings:“The number of books in the library was approximately 400,000 titles. After contacting colleagues in North Gaza, none of the books remain — they were either burned or stolen. We did not have electronic copies of the books.” (The number of works in the library was nearly 400,000 titles. According to colleagues in northern Gaza, none remain; they were either burned or stolen. We did not have digital copies of the works [19].)
Équipements :
Non renseigné
Situation du personnel
Inconnu
Written sources
Sources are referenced in the footnotes
Iconographic and audiovisual sources
Israeli airstrikes on Al-Azhar University. The video, posted on November 6, 2023, early afternoon, is likely showing the November 4, 2023 bombing – « Israeli air strikes target Gaza’s Al-Azhar University », Middle East Monitor, November 6, 2023. It appears to be the same video shared on X/Twitter by Times of Gaza on November 4, 2023.
Testimonies
Testimony of Hamza N. Ibrahim, graduate in English from Al-Azhar University, who intended to pursue journalism studies before the outbreak of the war – Hamza N. Ibrahim, « Dreams deferred», We Are Not Numbers, August 29, 2024.
Preservation, safeguarding, restoration
No information available.
Technical information
Record number:
5
Links with other records:
Record 12 — Hassan II Faculty of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, Al-Azhar University) Record 59 — Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology Library
Typology:
University Library
Author(s):
Rémy Gareil & Ha*
Record creation date:
21/07/2025
Date(s) of update:
27/03/2026
Nehru Library at Al-Azhar University, before its destruction.
Monotype print on paper, 15 x 21 cm
Rachel Z, January 9, 2026.
Rachel Z is a student at the Haute École des Arts du Rhin in Mulhouse, who enjoys creating images and music to tell stories. You can find her on Instagram (@rachelzilber).
This image depicts the Nehru Library (مكتبة جواهر لال نهرو) of Al-Azhar University in Gaza (جامعة الأزهر – غزة), or at least how I imagine it based on the few photos showing it intact that I collected online. It is difficult to picture the 400,000 books, the exchanges of knowledge, and the hushed whispers that must have filled this building over 23 years. In the vast majority of photos I found, the only silence visible is that of the rubble.
Saturating colors and distorting forms is an attempt to create an image that escapes the reality of the bombings. Building imaginary walls and hoping they are indestructible, so that the knowledge they hold does not die.
— Rachel Z, January 2026.
To cite this article: Rémy Gareil & Reading in Gaza Collective (July 21, 2025, updated March 27, 2026). No. 5 — Nehru Library of Al-Azhar University مكتبة جواهر لال نهرو – جامعة الأزهر Reading in Gaza. Accessed on [date] at https://www.visionscarto.net/bibliotheque-nehru-universite-al-azhar
