‘HERITAGE IS HUMANITY’
Israel’s Deliberate Targeting of Palestinian Cultural Heritage

By Tamira Gibbs Chumillass / GICJ

Executive Summary

Since October 2023, 145 cultural heritage sites in Gaza have registered damage as a result of attacks by Israeli forces. These include sites such as the largest and oldest mosque in Gaza, the Great Omari Mosque, and the ancient harbour of Anthedon. The destruction of these sites of historical and cultural importance prompted the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem and Israel, to launch an investigation. The deliberate targeting of cultural heritage is a violation of international law as outlined, for example, in The Convention for The Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict (1954). The Commission’s investigation revealed a systematic destruction of culturally important property by the Israeli army through a variety of means, including air strikes, bulldozers, vandalism and arson.

This report examines the ways in which cultural heritage is protected under international law and aims to demonstrate how the deliberate destruction of heritage in Gaza forms part of a wider campaign by Israel to deny the Palestinians their fundamental right to self-determination.
Geneva International Centre for Justice (GICJ) condemns the destruction of cultural heritage and recognizes the importance of culture in reinforcing and perpetuating the identity of a community. GICJ calls on the international community to accord the appropriate importance to the protection of cultural heritage in safeguarding Palestinian rights to self-determination and to condemn any attempt to destroy their ability to engage in their protected cultural rights.

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