A French university has severed ties with an Israeli higher education institution, accusing it of having “warmongering” stances on the Gaza onslaught, French media has reported, sparking criticism from Paris, Al Jazeera reports.

The Institute of Political Studies [IEP] in France’s eastern city of Strasbourg cut ties with the Reichman University near Tel Aviv in June, local newspaper Dernieres Nouvelles d’Alsace reported on Wednesday.

Students and several teachers had backed the move over what its initiators called the Israeli institution’s “deeply warmongering” stances over the Gaza war, calling them “devoid of any humanist perspective”, it said.

IEP Director Jean-Philippe Heurtin told AFP he had been strongly opposed to severing ties, but members of the university board — which includes students — approved it in a vote.

“The decision is distressing,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told the BFMTV broadcaster on Thursday. “It’s not this university that today is bombing Lebanon or Gaza,” he said.