Urgent Press Release by Emek Shaveh Response to COGAT’s Announcement Regarding the forced evacuation of the antiquities warehouse in Gaza

The announcement distributed today by COGAT regarding the antiquities warehouse that
was forced to be evacuated prior to its complete destruction in a military air-strike is a
disgrace. The strike, allegedly carried out against “Hamas infrastructure,” is part of a
comprehensive campaign to annihilate the city of Gaza. Since the beginning of the war,
the army has demonstrated that nothing will stop it in its pursuit of the total destruction
of Gaza City—not even the city’s antiquities and cultural heritage.

International law prohibits harm to cultural property, including archaeological sites,
historic buildings, collections, museums, universities, archives, libraries, and more. Since
the beginning of the war, Israel has damaged or destroyed hundreds of protected cultural
sites and artifacts. The attempt to portray the current evacuation as if the State of Israel
were investing resources to prevent such harm is absurd and constitutes a mockery of
international law.

In this case, the army permitted only a partial evacuation of the findings it intended to
strike, and that was possible solely thanks to the tremendous efforts of Gaza’s residents,
supported by international organizations, who succeeded in saving a portion of the
collection. The warehouse contained approximately 30 years of archaeological work in the
Gaza Strip and housed tens of thousands of items. Some were removed, but many were
destroyed.

It is important to recall that the army had already raided this same warehouse and even
invited the Israel Antiquities Authority to visit it. At the time, the Authority issued an
official recommendation to transfer part of the collection to Israel, but later retracted it
under public and international pressure.

Finally, the attempt to attribute this so-called gesture to the Christian community, as
though these items belong to Christians alone, is sheer ignorance. The heritage of Gaza
represents thousands of years of human culture and creativity and belongs to Gazans and
Palestinians, regardless of their religion.

Emek Shaveh calls on the State of Israel to immediately cease the destruction of
Gaza City, including its cultural heritage sites, which are protected under
international law.