(MENAFN) Gaza’s rich historical and cultural legacy has suffered heavily under Israeli bombardment during Tel Aviv’s two-year conflict, with more than 20,000 rare antiques—ranging from prehistoric epochs to the Ottoman age—now missing or plundered.

“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 a news agency on Monday.

Official figures indicate that Israeli operations have completely or partly demolished over 316 archaeological landmarks and structures across the Gaza Strip.

Many belong to the Mamluk and Ottoman periods, while others originate in the early Islamic centuries or even the Byzantine era.

Among the devastated sites is Qasr al-Basha, a Mamluk-period palace built on a UNESCO-listed heritage location dating back to 800 BC.

This historic structure, situated in Gaza City’s Old City within the Al-Daraj district, suffered damage to 70% of its area during Israeli strikes, according to Hamouda Al-Dahdar, a specialist in cultural preservation at the Centre for Cultural Heritage Preservation in Bethlehem, in the occupied West Bank.

Meanwhile, technicians and preservation workers persist in searching through debris, relying on basic instruments to retrieve and safeguard any remaining fragments of Gaza’s cultural 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.

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