Gaza’s Archaeological Heritage at Risk of Destruction

Throughout the war, the French Biblical and Archaeological School of Jerusalem (EBAF) has housed 80 cubic meters of antiquities in a storage facility in Gaza City. The collection represents over 25 years of excavations and includes artefacts from Gaza’s UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Byzantine monastery of Saint Hilarion.

The Israeli military ordered the evacuation of the storage facility on Wednesday morning ahead of what they described as an imminent strike against the building in which it is located, despite its protected status under the UN’s deconfliction system.

Première Urgence Internationale, which has managed the site’s security, negotiated for more time while searching for partners capable of moving the collection. Since 2017, its teams have been working on the protection of Gaza’s historical heritage as a means to provide hundreds of young Palestinians with vocational training and livelihood opportunities.

The archaeological collection comprises tens of thousands of artefacts from key Christian and ancient sites in the Palestinian territory, including Saint Hilarion, the Church of Mukheitim, the Church of Al-Bureijh, the Roman necropolis of Ard-Moarbin, and Anthedon (UNESCO Tentative List).

The artefacts – ceramics, mosaics, coins, painted plasterwork, human and animal remains, and more – are a critical component of the Palestinian heritage and vital to understanding the early Christian and ancient history of the Middle East. Their destruction would mark an irreplaceable loss to global heritage, according to EBAF, who believe it is not only Gaza’s history at stake, but the world’s.

The Israeli military agreed to hold off on the attack on the condition that “progress” was made moving the fragile antiquities elsewhere, dismissing the objection that time and resources, and an alternative safe location, were required. The military indicated the airstrike would proceed if Première Urgence Internationale failed to move the collection.

The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem offered its support transporting the collection to a safer location. The movement went ahead on Thursday afternoon under the continuous threat of bombardment. The storage facility is now empty ahead of Israel’s anticipated airstrike.

Since the late 19th century, EBAF has been one of the region’s renowned academic institutions, recognized for its work in the region and consulted by the Israeli Antiquities Authority. Attached to the Dominican Convent of Saint Stephen of Jerusalem, the school led the publication of the Qumran
manuscripts. Prior to the war, Première Urgence Internationale’s patrimony safeguard interventions provided livelihood opportunities to young Palestinians through a range of activities, including masonry, 3D photogrammetry, and archaeological excavations. Some sites, such as Saint Hilarion, were intended
to become community spaces offering language courses and mental health and psychosocial support activities for both adults and youth.

The threat to the archaeological collection remains acute as Israeli attacks continue to escalate. Humanitarian organizations are warning that Israel’s assault on Gaza City will impose dire
conditions on nearly one million starving, grieving, and displaced Palestinians. Première Urgence Internationale is continuing to provide life-saving assistance to those in need.

Since the beginning of the war, UNESCO has verified damage to at least 110 cultural sites across the Gaza Strip, including 13 religious sites, 77 buildings of historical or artistic interest, one museum, and seven archaeological sites.

These attacks have raised broader concerns of a war waged not only against a living population but also against Palestinian history and identity. The same pattern has been seen in other conflicts in recent years, most notably marked by the Islamic State’s destruction of historic artefacts and sites in Iraq and Syria, including the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Palmyra.

The international community must act to protect Gaza’s treasures. Their loss would erase centuries of Christian and ancient history from the regionandtheworld.

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