The Faculty of Medicine of the Islamic University of Gaza was established to meet the urgent needs of the Palestinian society for medical graduates and fulfil the aspirations of many Palestinian students who otherwise would have had to travel abroad to study medicine.
Formally founded in 2006, the faculty of medicine had over the ten years preceding that date made daunting efforts to establish the necessary infrastructure. These efforts included attracting the staff and building well-equipped science labs. Between 2012 and 2023, a total number of 889 physicians, distributed in 12 batches, successfully graduated from the faculty, of whom many have become leaders of healthcare practice in the Gaza Strip and abroad, thus asserting and reflecting the Faculty’s competence among Arabic and foreign countries.
Dr Mofeed Al-Moukhallalati was the founder and first dean of the Faculty (2006-2012), and he later served as the Palestinian minister of health. He was followed by Dr Omar Farwana who served as the Dean of Faculty from 2012 through 2015, and then Dr Fadel Naim (2015-2023), and Dr Anwar Sheikh Khalil (2023 – present).
The Faculty of Medicine at IUG endeavours to rise to prominence both locally and internationally in terms of performance, quality, and learning outcomes, and to be a remarkable addition to existing medical schools in Palestine and the Arab world. The faculty is committed to graduating outstanding physicians, empowered with knowledge, skills and passion, which will ultimately enable a positive transformation of healthcare in Gaza.
The competence of the Faculty of Medicine has been proven by the fact that its graduates have explicitly distinguished themselves in all levels and disciplines, including international and local examination programs. This was evident in the international exam IFOM and several other normative tests in which our graduates performed excellently.
The faculty stresses the importance of keeping with international standards, controlling the quality of the educational process, and continually assessing the performance of its students, graduates, and staff. As part of active community participation, the faculty has held nine medical conferences since its establishment and founded a special unit for evidence-based medicine. Additionally, in accordance with the Faculty’s medical program and graduation requirements, all students must complete at least one research paper published in a peer-reviewed journal. Also, all students must successfully pass the IFOM-BSE; coming immediately after phase I (basic science levels) and IFOM-CSE; after phase II (clinical levels) in order to graduate with an M.D. degree. Both exams are conducted by the International Foundation of Medicine (IFOM) and are performed within IUG facilities.
In addition, the Faculty of Medicine founded the Hayat Center for Emergency and Crisis Management, which represented a valuable addition to the Palestinian society, especially under the conditions of the siege and repeated wars. Moreover, the faculty takes pride in obtaining the accreditation of the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) as it became an authorized test centre for the IFOM exam, on par with other well-known establishments in the Arab world such as Hamad Medical Corporation in Doha and the American University in Beirut. Over the past decade, dozens of exams were conducted by the Faculty of Medicine, taken by over hundreds of examinees.
Studying medicine at the IUG Faculty of Medicine involves basic medical science training, which normally lasts for three years and constitutes phase I. During this phase, students are taught the basic and foundational sciences of medicine, such as anatomy, physiology, microbiology, pathology, biochemistry, and others. Phase II also extends over three years, during which students are given hands-on experience throughout clinical training; it is a combination between theoretical lectures and training in real hospital wards.
