Cultural Genocide: Devastation of Cultural Heritage in Gaza by Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights

This report’s findings strongly suggest that Israel has carried out its destruction of Palestinian cultural heritage sites systematically and with the intent to eradicate Palestinian heritage. This heritage takes both tangible forms – ancient buildings, cemeteries, mosaics, markets, bath houses and so on – and intangible ones, such as the sense of belonging that arises from living among the material culture of a civilization that has endured for centuries. The extensive damage to these sites is not merely collateral – the unintended result of attacks against military objectives. It is a genocidal method that contributes to the erasure of a people. The impact of such an attack on heritage is manifold and profound.