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Destruction of cultural heritage during the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip
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The destruction of cultural heritage during the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip has included the damage and destruction by Israel of hundreds of culturally or historically significant buildings, libraries, museums, and other repositories of knowledge in Gaza, alongside the destruction of intangible cultural heritage.[2][3] Nearly 80% of the buildings in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed and 1.9 million people displaced.[4][5]
There are hundreds of cultural heritage sites in Gaza, including more than 300 architectural heritage sites. In addition to the damaged and destroyed heritage sites, by February 2024 a total of 44 people involved with arts and culture had been killed. Cultural heritage embodies a people's collective identity. Destroyed sites have included archives, museums, mosques, churches, and cemeteries. Israel's destruction of cultural heritage in Gaza has been conducted in a systematic way.[6][7][8][9]
During the war, much of the Old City of Gaza was severely damaged or destroyed by Israeli airstrikes, including the Great Omari Mosque and the Church of Saint Porphyrius – the oldest mosque and oldest church in Gaza, respectively – as well as other historical sites such as the Ibn Uthman Mosque, the Pasha Palace, the As-Saqqa Palace, the Al-Qissariya Market, and the Hamam al-Sammara. The ancient port of Anthedon was completely destroyed. Museums including the Al Qarara Cultural Museum, the Akkad Museum, and the Rafah Museum were looted, damaged, or destroyed.
In response to the threat to heritage sites, UNESCO called for the protection of heritage sites during the war. In July 2024, it added 'The Monastery of Saint Hilarion/Tell Umm Amer' to the list of World Heritage Sites and its list of sites in danger. The destruction of cultural heritage sites has been characterised by some as cultural genocide,[3][10][6] and South Africa included the destruction of cultural heritage in Gaza as evidence of genocide in its case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.[11]
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Background
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Cultural heritage in Gaza
Cultural heritage is passed down from generation to generation, comprising material culture such as artworks and buildings and intangible things such as traditions and ways of life.[13] A 2010 survey identified 13 libraries in the Gaza Strip,[14] and in 2017 there were five museums.[15] In the view of archaeologist Jean-Baptiste Humbert, "Gaza's society is sensitive to its heritage, but the crushing that has been inflicted by the occupying forces over the past fifty years means that vital priorities like feeding, caring for, and educating the population have pushed cultural heritage aside as a luxury for wealthy countries."[16]
The Gaza Strip is densely populated and modern buildings are often built over archaeological sites. In 2023 there were more than 300 architectural heritage sites in Gaza, including a range of different structures such as mosques, palaces, schools, and cemeteries. The most common categories of historic site according to the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities are houses, followed by tells (settlement mounds) and mosques.[17]
The historic buildings and heritage sites that make up a place embody its collective identity and history; they are important to the community of which they are a part and are an extension of their identity.[18] Memory of significant places and events can be preserved through material culture – from small objects to buildings. For Palestinians forcibly displaced from their homes in 1948 during the Nakba, the Palestinian key has become tangible symbols of the homes they had to leave behind.[19]
Destruction of cultural heritage
Speaking about cultural heritage broadly, the archaeologist Cornelius Holtorf remarked "If heritage is said to contribute to people's identities, the loss of heritage can contribute to people's identities even more."[21] Destruction of places and cultural heritage is often part of war and genocide and is intended to undermine a society. It has been used in this way from prehistory and classical antiquity to the modern day, notably in Nazi persecution of the Jews. The philosopher Jeff Malpas highlights the use of destruction to exert authority and control over other groups as a significant issue in Israel–Palestine relations.[22]
Cultural sites are protected under Article 53 of Protocol I of the Geneva Conventions, and the intentional destruction of historic monument or buildings is considered a war crime.[23][24] The Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict requires that states "[refrain] from any use of the property and its immediate surroundings or of the appliances in use for its protection for purposes which are likely to expose it to destruction or damage in the event of armed conflict; and by refraining from any act of hostility, directed against such property".[25] Previous conflicts between Gaza and Israel have affected the Gaza Strip's cultural heritage sites; this includes the 2008–09 war which resulted in damage to Gaza's libraries and what was then its only museum,[26][27] while the 2014 war damaged more than 170 mosques in Gaza.[28]
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Impact
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Overview
On 7 October 2023, Hamas attacked Israel, killing more than a thousand people (including more than 800 civilians) and taking some 251 hostages.[29] In response Israel began a counterattack on Gaza; its initial focus was on the northern Gaza Strip, and bombing intensified towards the end of 2023 and expanded to the south with ground invasions to the extent that more half of the buildings in the Strip had been damaged or destroyed by January 2024.[30] More than 46,600 Palestinians had been killed by the time of a ceasefire in January 2025, with the majority consisting of women and children, and there was extensive damage to civilian infrastructure.[31][32] Israel's bombing campaign is one of the most destructive in recent history,[33] and nearly 80% of the buildings in the Gaza Strip were damaged or destroyed during the conflict by July 2025. The destruction has left residential areas devastated, and 1.9 million people have been displaced.[4][34][5]
The Palestinian Ministry of Culture published several interim reports on the impact of the war on Gaza's cultural heritage. In February 2024, they reported that 44 people involved with arts and culture were killed and around 200 historic buildings were damaged or destroyed, along with 12 museums and numerous cultural centres.[35] Intangible cultural heritage has also been affected through the loss of centres that provided community activities and supported Gazan culture.[36] In January 2025, shortly after the ceasefire, the Ministry of Culture began a process of evaluating the impact on the ground.[37] UNESCO has an ongoing damage assessment. Due to an inability to access Gaza it has been able to verify the impact on a smaller number of sites: 110 as of 27 May 2025.[38] On the ground in Gaza, Palestinian archaeologist Fadel al-Utol has been coordinating a group documenting the destruction of cultural heritage sites.[39] The World Bank estimated that over US$300 million damage had been caused to Gaza's cultural heritage by the end of January 2024, part of US$18 billion damage to Gaza's built infrastructure.[40] Restoring all the damaged sites would take nearly a decade.[41]
Museums, archives, and libraries
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A Ministry of Culture noted that 12 museums had been damaged.[35] The Al Qarara Cultural Museum was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike early on in the conflict.[42] On 25 November 2023, the Rashad Shawa Cultural Center was destroyed by Israeli shelling. It had been used as a shelter for hundreds of civilians and contained a theatre and library with tens of thousands of books.[43][44][45] Other libraries, including Gaza Municipal Library, Enaim Library, Al-Nahda Library, Al-Shorouq Al-Daem Library, the Kana'an Educational Development Institute, were reported as damaged or destroyed in November and December 2023.[14][46]
In December 2023, bombardment by Israel destroyed the Central Archives of Gaza City which contained thousands of historically important documents.[47][48] The Great Omari Mosque housed one of the most important libraries in Palestine; the rare books in its collection, which had survived the crusades and the First World War, were destroyed in the airstrike.[49][50] The medieval Qasr al-Basha, also known as Pasha's Palace, was left in ruins after Israeli bombardment. The palace functioned as an archaeology museum.[51][52] Other museums damaged or looted during the conflict included the Akkad Museum in Khan Yunis and the Rafah Museum.[53]
Religious sites
In February 2025, Gaza's Ministry of Endowments reported that 79% of the mosques in the Gaza Strip had been destroyed.[54] On 19 October an Israeli airstrike hit the Church of Saint Porphyrius campus, the oldest church in Gaza. Hundreds of civilians were sheltering there at the time of the attack, and 18 people including several children were killed.[55][56][57] The Sayed al-Hashim Mosque was also amongst the sites damaged during the first months of the conflict.[58][3] The Omari Mosque – the oldest mosque in Gaza – was hit by an Israeli airstrike in December,[59] leaving only the minaret intact.[8][60]
In July 2024, the 15th-century Ibn Uthman Mosque in Gaza's Shuja'iyya neighbourhood was destroyed by an airstrike during an Israeli attack on the area.[61] Further destruction was reported by Al-Jazeera in August, with the Great Mosque of Khan Yunis destroyed with explosives and IDF soldiers burning a Quran in the Bani Saleh Mosque in northern Gaza.[62] In the assessment of Mariam Shah, a peace and conflict researcher, "Israel has targeted ancient mosques and churches, which are symbols of both historical and religious significance. These sites transcend physicality; they are vessels of faith and tradition, preserving local architectural legacies and representing the long history of interfaith coexistence in Gaza."[63]
Cemeteries
An investigation by CNN in early 2024 using satellite imagery identified sixteen cemeteries in Gaza that had been damaged as a result of the conflict. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) used bulldozers to level cemeteries and dig up bodies, and in some cases established fortified positions on top of burial grounds.[64]
Places of education
On 17 January 2024, the IDF used mines to destroy the main building of Israa University.[65][66] The destruction of the university included its library and national museum.[67] Israa University stated that occupying forces took over 3,000 artefacts from its museum prior to the university building's destruction.[68][69] In May, the IDF Military Police opened an investigation into video footage showing IDF soldiers burning books, including a Quran in a mosque in Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip and books at the Al-Aqsa University library.[70]
Archaeological and cultural sites
Many archaeological sites were damaged during the war, though the full extent is obscured by active conflict.[73] On 8 October 2023, researchers found rocket damage at the Roman cemetery of Ard-al-Moharbeen, an archaeological site discovered in 2022. The ancient port of Anthedon was completely destroyed.[3][74] Analysis by the Gaza Maritime Archaeology Project of aerial photography established that archaeological sites such as Tell el-Ajjul and Maiuma had sustained damage from airstrikes by November.[75] The same month, ICOMOS Palestine reported that the historic Souq Al-Zawiya (a market) had been destroyed by the Israeli Air Force.[76] Tell es-Sakan, a Bronze Age settlement south of Gaza City, and Tell Ruqiash, an Iron Age fortified site near Deir al-Balah, were damaged by shelling.[74]
The Marmara Memorial dedicated to those killed during the 2010 Gaza flotilla raid was demolished by the IDF in November 2023.[77][78] The Hamam al-Sammara bath in the Zeitoun Quarter of the Old City was destroyed in December 2023.[79][52] The Gold Market, also known as the Qissariya Market, was destroyed in December around the same time as the nearby Omari Mosque.[59][51] In July 2024, the Gold Market was further damaged.[80] The Shababeek for Contemporary Art had a collection of 20,000 artworks and was destroyed in March 2024 during the siege of the nearby Al-Shifa Hospital.[81]
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UNESCO list of affected sites
The UNESCO summary of 110 verified damaged or destroyed cultural sites identified as of 28 May 2025 is set out below:[38]
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International response
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On 14 December 2023, UNESCO gave "provisional enhanced protection" to Saint Hilarion Monastery, one of the oldest monasteries in the Middle East. In the announcement, UNESCO called for the protection of heritage sites during the war: "While priority is rightly given to the humanitarian situation, the protection of cultural heritage in all its forms must also be taken into account. .... Cultural property should not be targeted or used for military purposes, as it is considered to be civilian infrastructure."[25] It is conducting research using remote monitoring to assess damage to cultural heritage sites.[103] At its next session in July, UNESCO added 'The Monastery of Saint Hilarion/Tell Umm Amer' to the list of World Heritage Sites; it was also added to the List of World Heritage in Danger at the same due to the war.[104]
In December 2023, South Africa brought a case to the International Court of Justice alleging that Israel was committing genocide against the Palestinian people, noting the destruction of cultural heritage amongst its evidence.[11] The destruction of cultural heritage sites has been characterised by some as cultural genocide,[3][10][6][105] and linked to the urbicide in the Gaza Strip.[106][107] Israel denied the accusations, saying its campaign is restricted to military targets.[11]
Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor organised a petition calling for a boycott of Israeli academic institutions as part of a response to the destruction of Gaza's educational institutions, cultural heritage, and the killing of students and teachers; it gathered more than 100 signatures from European academics.[108] Separately, 1,600 academics in North America signed an open letter condemning the scholasticide in Gaza and the destruction of cultural heritage.[109] The American Historical Association's members voted to condemn Israel's actions in Gaza, the scholasticide, and the destruction of libraries and archives.[110] Employees of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York wrote an open letter to the museum's chief executive encouraging him to publicly make a statement on the destruction of Gaza's heritage as it was consistent with the museum's public stance in previous conflicts that threatened culture.[111] A group of 500 publishers, collaborating under the name 'Publishers for Palestine', as the Frankfurt Book Fair (held in October 2024) to condemn the attack on Gaza and to not work with "complicit Israeli book publishers".[112] In mid-2025, five hundred Romanian cultural workers wrote an open letter to the Romanian government asking them to "stand against the genocide, ecocide and cultural genocide".[113]
The Palestine Exploration Fund released a statement condemning the destruction in Gaza along with the attack by Hamas on 7 October; it also stated that it would not fund or publish research engaging with items unlawfully removed from Palestine.[114] The Institute of Conservation (Icon), the Middle East Studies Association, and the Iran Public Libraries Foundation condemned the destruction of Palestine's heritage,[50][115][116] while PEN America noted that it was "gravely alarmed by and mourn the loss of these cultural institutions and all that they represent".[117] A group of UN experts commented on the destruction of cultural heritage that "The foundations of Palestinian society are being reduced to rubble, and their history is being erased".[118] In the view of Mahmoud Hawari, former director of The Palestinian Museum, the intentional destruction of Palestinian cultural heritage "demonstrates the Israeli political and military leadership's intent to destroy the Palestinian people and their cultural identity".[119] The Council on American–Islamic Relations characterised the destruction as deliberate and evidence that "the Israeli apartheid government is seeking to eliminate Palestinian existence in Gaza and the West Bank".[120]
The destruction of and threat to physical materials has led to increased efforts to digitise works.[121] Supporting physical preservation and recording, the Aliph Foundation began a $1 million project in collaboration with the Riwaq Centre for Architectural Conservation in the West Bank to assess the impact of the war on Gaza's historic sites and to train people to conduct the work and document heritage at risk. By September 2024, evaluations were underway at the Great Mosque of Gaza, Al-Saqqa House, and a historic courtyard (Dar-Farah).[122]
During the conflict, exhibitions of archaeological finds from Gaza have taken place in Europe. Part of the exhibitions derives from materials excavated in the 1990s and shipped to Paris for display in 2000, but which could not be returned due to the Second Intifada; the artefacts were later transferred to Geneva where they remained until 2024. From October 2024 to February 2025, the Museum of Art and History in Geneva held an exhibition of 44 artefacts from Gaza; titled "Patrimony in Peril", it commemorated the 70th anniversary of the Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict.[123][124][125] The Museum of Art and History coordinated with the Institut du Monde Arabe, is displaying 130 items from Gaza from April to November in an exhibition titled "Trésors sauvés de Gaza. 5000 ans d'histoire" ("Saved Treasures of Gaza: 5000 Years of History").[126] The World Monuments Fund publish a list every two years of historic places under threat to raise awareness of their situation. Gaza's historic urban fabric was amongst the 25 places included in the 2025 list.[127][128] The founder of human rights non-governmental organisation Al-Haq advocated for the reconstruction of Gaza cultural sites as a way of rejecting Donald Trump's mooted suggestion for the US to takeover the Gaza Strip.[129]
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See also
- Bulldozer politics
- Cultural genocide
- Destruction of early Islamic heritage sites in Saudi Arabia
- Destruction of cultural heritage by ISIS
- Destruction of cultural heritage during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon
- Ethnic cleansing
- Ethnocide
- Israeli demolition of Palestinian property
- List of destroyed heritage
- Psychology of genocide
- Social cleansing
- Ten stages of genocide
- War crimes in the Gaza war
- Samir Mansour Library
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