At the end of January, Israel’s war on Gaza was estimated to have reduced up to 60% of Gaza's properties to rubble. Recent estimates put the figure at around 80%.
Four of every five buildings that stood in September are now smashed wrecks. The UN estimates that there are 23 million tonnes of debris in Gaza that will take 14 years to clear.
In many respects, it is now a wasteland of broken concrete and dust. The terrible sense of physical devastation pales against the horror of the death toll.
Yet in the ashes lies yet another threat to Palestinians: the crumbling of Gaza’s rich historical and cultural heritage that gives the people their identity and history.
From the Omari Mosque to the Unknown Soldier Square, so many special places have been damaged or destroyed by all this relentless violence.
Heritage and memory
A sense of place is important for people all over the world. It serves as a vital backdrop to life and informs the memories and narratives that shape the experience of individuals, families, and societies.
Special sites play into that sense of a shared culture and a long past. They are cherished and protected as a means to understand the lived experience of ancestors. Gaza, in that sense, is no different.
Yet the scale of the damage inflicted by Israel puts Gaza in a league of its own when it comes to the desecration of collective memory and meaning.
Steeped in Arab heritage, it boasted numerous historical and archaeological treasures, imbued with religious, cultural, or historical significance. Many of these sites have been hit by significant physical damage.
Gaza is so badly damaged that even its main roads have been destroyed. Hardly a single street has been spared.
Omari Mosque
The Omari Mosque, also known as the Great Mosque of Gaza, was one of Gaza's main landmarks. Built 1,500 years ago and named after Caliph Omar ibn al-Khattab, it was the largest and oldest mosque in Gaza, located east of Gaza City.
It was once a temple, then a church, then a mosque. It had been attacked, built, and/or managed by the Philistines, Byzantines, Arabs of the Rashidun Caliphate, Crusaders, Ayyubids, Mamluks, Mongols, Ottomans, and British, to name but a few.
It stood out for its aesthetics and architecture, but on 7 December 2023, an Israeli air strike left large parts of this historic mosque structurally destroyed and its minaret partially collapsed.
Coincidentally, almost exactly 1,000 years earlier, on 5 December 1033, an earthquake caused the pinnacle of the mosque's Mamluk minaret to collapse.
It is a huge loss. Visitors to the Omari Mosque would often cite a deep sense of awe mixed with a curious sense of familiarity. Many felt as if they were "coming home".
During my numerous visits to the Omari Mosque, I too sensed an inner peace and felt at one with humanity, nature, and the ancient stones of the building itself.
It carried within its bounds a profound sense of place and connection with the people of the city. Its walls felt timeless, letting visitors travel back centuries. Now, this bridge between eras, peoples, and even faiths has been brutally broken.
Church of St. Porphyrius
In the Zeitoun area east of Gaza City, the Greek Orthodox Church of St. Porphyrius was bombed by the Israelis in October 2023, killing up to 18 people and causing the collapse of at least one building.
It had always served as a shelter for Palestinians during previous conflicts. They felt safe within its walls, as they should have.
When I visited, I was overcome by a profound sense of awe and peaceful stillness. Its walls were a 200-metre panorama of paintings, their inscriptions, decorations, and icons bearing witness to the sweep of history that formed Gaza.
The foundational text of the church, eight lines of ancient Greek etched into marble, always captivated me as I entered. Encircled by golden lines against ancient artistic imagery, the inscription seemed timeless, inviting contemplation and reverence.
A vessel of solace and hope, this venerable edifice has roots dating back to the 5th century AD, but a big portion of its beauty was obliterated by the Israelis, leaving it inaccessible for prayer and devoid of the peace it once offered.
People have deep spiritual attachments to places of worship, so they should be protected from attack as cultural property under international humanitarian law.
This protection is included in the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the event of Armed Conflicts, Additional Protocol I and II to the Geneva Conventions of 1949, Statute of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), and the Statute of the International Criminal Court.
