Photo credit: CBC
The University of Waterloo community is mourning the killing of two Palestinian sisters after they were accepted into a PhD program at the southern Ontario school.
CBC reports that the sisters, Sally and Ghazi Ibaid, 26, died in a bombing this month amid the Israel-Hamas war.
Their family says they had hopes of “an end to their and our suffering” and “realizing their dreams” after getting accepted into the Global Student Relief Initiative, which supports students from conflict zones, on October 28.
Tamer Ozsu, a University of Waterloo professor who oversees applications from students for the fellowship program, said, “The focus is now on Gaza and the West Bank, where universities have been bombed and there’s not much opportunity for any education.”
The last remaining university in Gaza was destroyed in January 2024. The Israeli military has conducted several raids on universities in the occupied West Bank. Several Palestinian students have also been arrested.
The twins were in the process of applying for study permits to enter the university’s system design engineering program and were preparing to cross the Rafah border when they were killed on December 5.
While the University of Waterloo says it was an Israeli airstrike, CBC has yet to confirm that and is awaiting a response from the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF). The university team managing the fellowship program has been in contact with the women’s family who confirmed their mother also died in the airstrike.
Ozsu said, “These were very educated students that we had high hopes for. Them having not even a chance to come here and try their hand in education and research, it’s quite devastating.”
Nada El-Falou, a PhD student who volunteers to help students who are in the initiative get comfortable on campus said, “At first, I was not absorbing it, not really understanding it.
“Unfortunately, with so many deaths, it’s just difficult to absorb each and every one emotionally.”
Sally had submitted an emailed audio release to the university as part of her application for the program. She said, “I graduated from Al-Azhar University with a bachelor’s degree in mechatronics engineering.
“My academic journey has equipped me with a solid foundation and various aspects of engineering, particularly in ambitious systemic programming and design.”
