(MENAFN) Gaza’s cultural heritage has suffered heavily during Israel’s two-year conflict, with over 20,000 rare artifacts—from prehistoric times to the Ottoman period—reported missing or looted.

“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, said on Monday.

Official data indicate that Israeli forces have fully or partially destroyed more than 316 archaeological sites and buildings in Gaza, most from the Mamluk and Ottoman eras, with some dating back to early Islamic and Byzantine periods.

Qasr al-Basha, a Mamluk-era palace on a UNESCO heritage site dating to 800 BC, was heavily damaged, with 70% of the structure affected, according to Hamouda Al-Dahdar, a cultural heritage expert at the Centre for Cultural Heritage Preservation in Bethlehem.

Technicians and workers are sifting through rubble with simple tools to recover remaining artifacts and preserve Gaza’s historical identity.

“What happened to Gaza’s heritage was not only destruction; it was organized looting, a practice criminalized under international law and considered an assault on global cultural heritage,” Thawabteh said, adding that over 20,000 museum artifacts have disappeared during the conflict.

Dahdar confirmed the disappearance of thousands of rare items after Israeli forces raided and destroyed the palace. “Each piece of these artifacts 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.”

The site had been extensively damaged during earlier Israeli military operations before the 1994 withdrawal. Afterward, the Palestinian Authority restored the palace and converted it into a museum housing valuable historical collections.

Israel occupied Gaza in 1967, withdrew in 1994 under the Oslo Accords, and dismantled settlements in 2005 under its “Disengagement Plan.” During the latest war starting in October 2023, the palace was again destroyed and its archaeological objects looted.

More than 69,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed, and over 170,700 injured in the ongoing Israeli war that has left much of the enclave in ruins.

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