All of the students at the BYU Jerusalem Center are safe and accounted for after Hamas attacked Israel on Saturday, according to university statements.
The initial assault and the ensuing battles have killed around 600 people in Israel, according to the Israeli media, and more than 300 people in the Gaza Strip, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. Thousands of others are wounded.
Saturday’s rocket attack by Hamas militants did not target Jerusalem. Missile strikes were centered 40-60 miles away.
“All 94 students at the BYU Jerusalem Center are safe and doing well,” BYU spokeswoman Carri Jenkins said. “They are currently at the Center and will remain there for the time being, as we continue to monitor this situation.
“If needed, contingency plans are in place. The BYU Jerusalem Center is providing updates to family members and friends through its website at https://jerusalemcenter.ce.byu.edu/security-updates.”
That website posted a message at 10:30 p.m. MDT on Friday.
The message noted the distance of the attacks from Jerusalem, but said BYU officials remain cautious.
“Since it is uncertain how long the attack will continue and whether it will shift toward Jerusalem, students have been asked to remain around the Center for the remainder of Saturday,” the website said. “Activities outside the Center on Sunday (Jerusalem time) and beyond will be determined on Sunday morning when the scope of the attack is more clear.”
The website was updated Saturday at 2:05 p.m. with new information about Sunday activities and the coming days.
“The 94 students and ex pat Center personnel living at the Center have been asked to remain at the Center through Sunday night,” the message said.
Students will work on a humanitarian project at the center on Sunday, but officials canceled a Sunday evening concert and a field trip for students to Eilat in southern Israel.
Classes will continue as scheduled.
“The challenges over the next while are with travel outside of the Center,” the latest update said. “These will be evaluated as the conflict unfolds.
“A decision about Monday will be made Sunday evening. However, it seems likely that students et al will be asked to remain at the Center into next week, but decisions on travel outside of the Center will be made on a day-by-day basis.”
The center’s director tweeted that alarms sounded in Jerusalem on Saturday morning but that the center, its students and the city are secure. The alarms abated.
“Our students are in good spirits, and it is a privilege to be taking care of them,” Eric D. Huntsman wrote on X, the platform formerly called Twitter. Huntsman is the center’s academic director and a BYU professor of Ancient Scripture.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints sponsors BYU and the Jerusalem Center. BYU officials have access to a robust security information network.
“These kinds of flareups have occurred in the past,” the center’s first security update noted. “The Center has never been threatened by any of them. Even if missiles are fired toward Jerusalem, the militants would be targeting government buildings in West Jerusalem. East Jerusalem, where the Center is located, has never been targeted.”
The second update noted that “it is unclear whether the situation will escalate and affect Jerusalem.”
The updates called the missile attack the largest in several years. The surprise missile attack was launched by Hamas militants in Gaza early Saturday morning, Jerusalem time.
The BYU Jerusalem Center closed for two years during the COVID-19 outbreak. It reopened in spring 2022.
Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles visited and spoke at the center in April and spoke about being ready for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
When Israel has been attacked in the past, the BYU Jerusalem Center has reduced travel, sheltered students in place or closed the center temporarily depending on the level of risk.
For example, studies at the center were suspended from 2000-07 due to unrest in the area.
The center, while a mile from the Old City, is in an isolated area surrounded by important Arab sites and neighborhoods.
Huntsman wrote on X that the Center was quiet on Saturday and felt like an island of peace.