What is left of Pasha’s Palace amid Israel’s bombardment of Gaza. Historians of Gaza say Napoleon slept there for three nights in 1799.
Omar El Qattaa for NPR
The stately palace where Napoleon is said to have slept for a few nights. The last remaining Turkish bath, offering full body oil scrubs. The antiques shop with its trove of dusty treasures for sale.
So many of Gaza City’s gems are no more.
They withstood decades of upheaval, preserving the memory of Gaza’s ancient glory as a crossroads of civilizations. Now they have now been decimated in Israel’s ongoing bombardment of Gaza, the deadliest war Palestinians have ever faced, prompted by the deadliest day Israelis have ever endured, when Hamas attacked Oct 7.
“It’s really heartbreaking to see all this, and to think about the city that I cherish, that I’m from, that I love, in complete ruins,” says Palestinian-American author Laila El-Haddad, fighting off tears. Her parents grew up in Gaza and she used to live there. “I just can’t imagine why — what the point is of destroying all these places.”
The destruction of Gaza’s cultural heritage sites is among the crimes South Africa has alleged in its genocide case against Israel.
We asked the Israeli military, the IDF, why it targeted these sites. It said some contained militants and tunnels.
“In response to Hamas’ barbaric attacks, the IDF is operating to dismantle Hamas military and administrative capabilities,” it said. It blamed “the malicious exploitation by Hamas of civilian buildings, including significant, mainly religious sites, for its own terrorist purposes.”
The Israeli military did not announce the targeting of these historical heritage sites. But Israeli media has reported the…
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