News - Middle East: Gaza’s historical and cultural heritage has suffered extensive damage during Israel’s genocidal war on the territory, with more than 20,000 rare artifacts missing or looted and hundreds of archaeological sites destroyed, according to Palestinian officials.

“The Israeli army has systematically and extensively destroyed Gaza’s archaeological sites as part of a policy aimed at erasing Palestinian identity,” Ismail al-Thawabteh, head of Gaza’s Government Media Office, told Anadolu on Monday.

Official Palestinian data shows that Israeli forces have fully or partially destroyed more than 316 archaeological sites and heritage buildings across the Gaza Strip. Many date back to the Mamluk and Ottoman eras, while others originate from early Islamic centuries and the Byzantine period.

Among the most significant sites hit was Qasr al-Basha, a Mamluk-era palace located in Gaza City’s Old City, built on a UNESCO heritage site that traces its origins to 800 BC.

According to Hamouda al-Dahdar, a cultural heritage expert at the Centre for Cultural Heritage Preservation in Bethlehem, about 70% of the palace was damaged in Israeli attacks.

Technicians and local workers continue to search for scattered artifacts beneath the rubble in an effort to salvage what remains of Gaza’s historical identity.

“What happened to Gaza’s heritage was not only destruction; it was organized looting,” Thawabteh said, describing the disappearance of artifacts as “a practice criminalized under international law and an assault on global cultural heritage.”

He added that more than 20,000 rare artifacts, ranging from prehistoric objects to Ottoman-era pieces housed in the palace museum, have vanished during the war.

Dahdar confirmed the disappearance of thousands of artifacts following Israeli raids and the subsequent destruction of the site.

“Each piece is historically significant and represents a chapter of Palestine’s civilizational history,” he said, calling the looting “a grave cultural crime that affects national identity and humanity’s shared heritage.”

Qasr al-Basha had previously suffered damage during earlier Israeli military aggression prior to the regime’s 1994 withdrawal from Gaza. After the withdrawal, the Palestinian Authority restored the palace and converted it into a museum featuring rare historical collections.

The palace again sustained heavy destruction during Israel’s latest offensive, which began in October 2023, along with the looting of its archaeological holdings.

Geneva-based human rights group, Euro-Med Monitor, said Israel is “intentionally destroying” archaeological and historical monuments in Gaza, and “explicitly targeting Palestinian cultural heritage.”

“Destroying and targeting historical and archaeological sites may amount to a war crime under the Rome Statute establishing the International Criminal Court, and is a clear violation of The Hague Convention relating to the protection of cultural heritage during armed conflicts,” it noted.

More than 69,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed, and over 170,700 others wounded since the Israeli genocide in Gaza began, in constant bombardments that have reduced much of the territory to rubble.

Source: Press TV