RAMALLAH, (PIC)
The Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities (affiliated with the Palestinian Authority), in cooperation with the Cultural Heritage Preservation Center, announced that 226 archaeological sites in the Gaza Strip were damaged due to the direct targeting by the Israeli occupation army, which affected all sites.
In a report titled “Assessment of damage and risks to cultural heritage sites in Gaza,” the ministry said that the report covered 316 cultural heritage sites in Gaza, classified into archaeological sites, heritage buildings, museums, religious buildings, historical cemeteries, cultural scenes, natural sites, and monuments. A field survey was conducted for all these sites, satellite images were analyzed, data was collected, a model for each site was prepared, data specific to each site was entered, and information was analyzed to assess the damage incurred.
The report indicated that “out of 316 sites, the damage level for 138 sites was classified as significant, 61 were moderately damaged, and 27 sustained minor damage, while 90 sites were recorded as undamaged.”
It was clarified that “the budgets required for the recovery of the cultural heritage sector were evaluated at €261.15 million, divided into three phases: the first phase includes urgent interventions to rescue endangered sites and support them, with a budget estimated at €31.2 million; the second phase includes necessary interventions to restore partially threatened sites and rehabilitate them, with a required budget of €96.72 million; and the third phase involves rebuilding threatened sites, with a budget estimated at €133.23 million, with the execution period for all three phases extending to 8 years.”
A ceasefire in the Gaza Strip began on January 19, which lasts for 42 days in its first phase, during which negotiations are ongoing to start the second and then the third phases, mediated by Egypt, Qatar, and the United States.
The agreement stipulates the commencement of indirect negotiations regarding the second phase by the 16th day at the latest, aiming to finalize the agreement before the end of the fifth week of the first phase.
Since then, there have been four prisoners’ exchange operations, highlighting the disparity between the condition of Palestinian prisoners released from Israeli jails and those released by the resistance.
From October 7, 2023, to January 19, 2025, the occupation forces, with U.S. support, committed a genocide in Gaza, resulting in over 159,000 Palestinian martyrs and wounded, most of whom were children and women, along with more than 14,000 missing persons, marking one of the worst humanitarian disasters in the world.
