4th century Gaza monastery placed on endangered site list: UNESCO
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The monastery is one of the oldest in the Middle East and has been put on the endangered list due to "Israel's" ongoing aggression on Gaza.
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Located on the coastal dunes of the municipality of Nuseirat, the remains of the monastery of Saint Hilarion, undated (AP)
The Saint Hilarion complex, a 4th-century monastery located in Gaza, has been placed on UNESCO's endangered sites list due to "Israel's" ongoing genocidal war on the Strip, the organization said on Friday.
The site, which is considered one of the oldest monasteries in the Middle East, was put on the list due to "imminent threats" highlighted by the Palestinian authorities.
"It's the only recourse to protect the site from destruction in the current context," UNESCO World Heritage Centre Director Lazare Eloundou Assomo said to AFP, referring to the Israeli occupation's nine-month war on Gaza.
The monastery was granted "provisional enhanced protection," the highest level of security permitted by the 1954 Hague Convention, in December by the Committee for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict.
Palestine urges UNESCO to save Gaza's historic buildings
Hamas requested UNESCO on December 8, 2023, to conserve historic structures in Gaza, detailing how Israeli strikes have destroyed Palestine's oldest church, last hammam baths, and numerous ancient mosques.
According to reports by an NGO, the bombing of the Gaza Strip has not only targeted thousands of Palestinians but also demolished a number of historical architecture and heritage sites.
Hamas' Antiquities Ministry condemned the "ransacking of historical and archaeological sites" by the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) since the aggression on Gaza started on October 7.
The Ministry expressed that "the crime of targeting and destroying archaeological sites should spur the world and UNESCO into action to preserve this great civilizational and cultural heritage."
According to the government, 104 mosques have been destroyed since the war on Gaza began, and airstrikes targeted the Great Omari Mosque and the Othman bin Qashqar Mosque in Gaza City on December 7 and 8, respectively.
The ministry also denounced the destruction of the Hammam al-Samara, the territory's last Turkish-style bath, where Gazans have bathed for over 1,000 years.
The Omari Mosque, a building of seventh-century roots that was entirely crushed in the Jabalia refugee camp immediately after the bombing of Saint Porphyrius church, is thought to be the third oldest church in the world.
In the same context, the IOF confessed that a strike on the grounds of the St. Porphyrius Greek Orthodox Church in Gaza City in late October was caused by its own aircraft.
