Refaat Alareer is one of the founders of the ‘We Are Not Numbers’ project and a professor at the Islamic University of Gaza.
The killing of Palestinian professor and author Refaat Alareer by an Israeli airstrike on Wednesday, December 6, “was apparently deliberate,” according to a statement by Euro-Med Monitor.
The Geneva-based human rights organization called for “an immediate investigation into this apparently deliberate and targeted killing of a prominent Palestinian academic, writer, poet, and activist.”
The Democratic Party and Biden are responsible for the Gaza genocide perpetrated by Israel. https://t.co/6qMIvawzsP
— Refaat in Gaza 🇵🇸 (@itranslate123) December 4, 2023
According to Euro-Med Monitor, which collected information from eyewitnesses and family accounts, “the apartment where Refaat and his family were sheltering was surgically bombed out of the entire building where it’s located”.
“On Wednesday at around 18:00, Refaat al-Areer was killed in his sister’s home in al-Sidra neighborhood in al-Daraj area in Gaza city,” the statement reads.
“The airstrike surgically targeted the apartment on the second floor where Refaat was in a 3-story building, and not the entire building; indicating the apartment was the target and not possible collateral damage.”
‘Anonymous Call’
Euro-Med Monitor said that “Refaat was displaced multiple times during this war. (..) A few days ago, Refaat moved with his wife and children to a UNRWA school in al-Tufah neighborhood in Gaza according to his family.”
A close friend of Refaat’s, however, told Euro-Med Monitor that the Palestinian writer and intellectual “had received an anonymous phone call from someone who identified himself as an Israeli officer and threatened Refaat that they knew precisely the school where he was located and were about to get to his location with the advancement of Israeli ground troops.”
Nothing will silence us. Nothing will break us. And when die, we will leave behind stories & legacies that will guide our children towards the same path: freedom, and nothing else. Rest in peace, Refaat Alareer. We will continue to be guided by your wisdom, now and forever #Gaza pic.twitter.com/O1HzdacC9g
— Ramzy Baroud (@RamzyBaroud) December 8, 2023
Euro-Med Monitor was not able to verify the credibility of its threat but stated that the call “contributed to prompting Refaat to move back to his sister’s apartment, believing it was more concealed than an open and overcrowded school where it would have been difficult to hide.”
The call was not the first death threat received by Alareer.
“For weeks since the start of this war, Refaat has been receiving numerous death threats and hateful messages from Israeli accounts on social media after prominent public figures singled him out for harassment and incitement,” Euro-Med Monitor wrote.
Israel Killed Refaat Alareer in Gaza – These Are Some of His Last Words
Refaat Alareer is one of the founders of the ‘We Are Not Numbers’ project and professor at the Islamic University of Gaza.
Alareer was not an ordinary intellectual. He was an educator, who has inspired countless young people in Gaza to take charge of their own narrative and to tell the story of Gaza and Palestine based on their own experiences.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
He deserves a memorial in his honor. A martyr. Salute