'Dreams disappear' as Gaza students await evacuation to Italy

Rome: Dozens of Gaza students who won scholarships to universities in Italy are still waiting to be evacuated due to bureaucratic red tape, leaving qualified students in a deadly conflict zone, AFP has found.

Although more than 200 Palestinian students have been successfully enrolled in Italian colleges through a government university corridor project started in 2025, others have been left behind.

About 50 students are still awaiting clearance to leave the Israeli-occupied territory where most higher education institutions have been destroyed — despite having met the same requirements of previous Gazan students now in Italy, non-governmental organisations say.

Between September 2025 and June, 246 scholarship recipients from Gaza were flown to Italy and San Marino in a series of evacuations through Italy’s “IUPALS” program for Palestinian students, according to the foreign ministry.

But there have been no evacuations since June 1, said Anna Giada Altomare, founder of the Fiori dai Cannoni charity that helps the accepted students, who cited conflicting rules and a lack of transparency within the program.

One male student still waiting in Gaza — who requested that his name not be used — described to AFP a “long waiting period, the uncertainty about the travel date, and the fear of losing an educational opportunity obtained after great effort”.

“The Italian government could resolve this situation very quickly,” Altomare said, adding: “It is the state that should accelerate the process.”

Neither the foreign ministry nor the ministry for universities and research responded to a question from AFP about the evacuation delays.

Contacted by AFP, the Israeli foreign ministry also did not immediately respond for comment.

– Universities destroyed –

Nada Abunada and Mohamed Arafat are among the lucky ones. They began their studies in economics at Rome’s Sapienza University in November 2025, having graduated high school in Gaza with scores above 99 percent.

“I couldn’t enrol in university (in Gaza) because the war started. Everything that I had been planning for disappeared,” Abunada told AFP in Rome, adding that “most universities were destroyed”.

Arafat was studying business administration at Gaza’s Al-Azhar University before the war forced him to stop. “We were focused on surviving,” he said.

They were alerted to their evacuation just the day before by Italy’s consulate in Jerusalem.

“I didn’t tell anyone until the very last day because I wasn’t sure it would happen… I didn’t have much time to say goodbye,” said Arafat.

Students left behind say they are facing bureaucratic problems, including confusing evacuation criteria.

The young man still in Gaza — who was awarded a scholarship to study computer engineering in October 2025 — wonders whether his score on an Italian proficiency exam may have played a role in delaying his evacuation.

“I tried to answer as much as I could since I had been learning Italian despite all the difficult circumstances, including internet outages, fear, and the pressure of daily life during the war,” he said.

In July, Italy’s university and research ministry called for greater flexibility in applying the language requirement to students from conflict zones.

But that hasn’t helped the students still waiting in Gaza.

– Disappearing dreams –

Other Palestinian students hoping to study in Turkey, the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium face similar unexplained delays, the student said.

A pre-med graduate, who also asked not to be named, told AFP she was accepted to an Italian master’s program in June 2025 without asking for a scholarship.

She was later told by the Italian consulate that those without scholarships would not be evacuated.

Altomare said students with private Italian sponsors are also not being evacuated, questioning the rationale for rejecting such applicants.

Beyond administrative hurdles, students face difficult personal choices, such as family separation and mothers unable to evacuate with their children.

“I find it absurd that a woman should be forced to choose between continuing her education and leaving her child behind in Gaza,” said Altomare.

Student Arafat worries whether his family will be forced to leave their home, where they hear nightly strikes from nearby Israeli forces.

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He is trying to help his younger brothers study in Italy, but said they face even greater challenges than he did.

They have been asked to provide an equivalency assessment of their grades — one they cannot possibly meet because, he said, “there are no functioning ministries or institutions” in Gaza.

Back in Gaza, the computer engineering student expressed the frustration felt by many.

“We are not just files or numbers,” he told AFP.

“All we ask is to be given the opportunity we have already earned, and not to let our dreams disappear while we wait.”