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In two years of war, at least 114 heritage sites have been damaged or destroyed in Gaza, according to UNESCO. Among them are the Pasha’s Palace, the Rashad Shawa Cultural Centre, and the Great Omari Mosque. Several organisations have condemned these destructions, including Première Urgence Internationale. The French NGO launched the Intiqal initiative in 2017 to preserve Gaza’s heritage. Their work proved vital in September when Israel destroyed the storage facility of the French Biblical and Archaeological School (EBAF) in Gaza City. Forewarned about the attack, Intiqal and other organisations managed to rescue 80% of the artefacts stored there. The FRANCE 24 Observers team spoke to Jehad Abu Hassan, Intiqal's programme coordinator: "The EBAF storage housed an incredible collection of Palestinian heritage, representing 30 years of excavations and research in Gaza. It was really challenging because the bombings were happening all around. It wasn’t easy at all, since normally moving artefacts like these requires extensive preparation and careful measures to protect them." 'Each monument loss is a loss for humankind' Krista Pikkat, the director of UNESCO's Culture and Emergencies Entity, spoke to our team, lamenting the “considerable” impact of Israeli destruction on Gaza’s heritage: "We recognise the fact that any cultural property is of importance to a specific community, either because it has a historic value or sacred value or cultural value. So all of these are symbols have significance for certain communities. And each monument loss is a loss for humankind."
