UNESCO verifies damage to 164 cultural heritage sites in Gaza as Palestinian experts document 226 destroyed or significantly damaged

Summary

As of 24 March 2026, UNESCO had verified damage to 164 cultural Heritage in Conflict sites in Gaza since the outbreak of the Israel-Gaza conflict on October 7, 2023, conducting on-site rapid assessments where security permitted following the ceasefire on October 10, 2025. Verified damage covered 14 religious sites, 128 buildings of historical and artistic interest, three depositories of movable cultural property, nine monuments, two museums and eight archaeological sites. A parallel assessment by 13 Palestinian experts working with Oxford University, commissioned by the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, examined 316 cultural sites and found 226 either destroyed or significantly damaged. Among the sites documented: Anthedon Harbour (dated to approximately 800 BCE, listed on UNESCO's Tentative World Heritage List) sustained moderate to severe direct damage; the Saint Hilarion Monastery (Tell Umm Amer), one of the oldest Christian monasteries in the Middle East and inscribed on the World Heritage List under enhanced protection, sustained damage requiring emergency archaeological rescue. Recovery of Gaza's cultural heritage sector is estimated at €261.15 million over eight years.

The split

UNESCO and international heritage institutions framed the damage primarily as a professional conservation emergency requiring post-conflict assessment, documentation and stabilisation. Palestinian media and the Palestinian Authority treated the inventory as both a humanitarian and a sovereignty document, using UNESCO listings as a mechanism to preserve Palestinian cultural identity in any post-conflict political arrangement. Israeli and some Western media disputed the characterisation of destruction as systematic targeting, attributing most damage to the tactical conditions of urban warfare. Euro-Mediterranean human rights organisations and scholars of international humanitarian law argued that damage to UNESCO-listed sites under enhanced protection constitutes a potential war crime under the 1954 Hague Convention. Al Jazeera and Arab media covered the UNESCO listing of Palestinian sites as a political as well as cultural act.

By the numbers

• 164, cultural heritage sites verified damaged by UNESCO (as of March 24, 2026)
• 226, archaeological and cultural sites destroyed or significantly damaged (Palestinian Ministry survey)
• 316, total key cultural sites inventoried in Gaza by Palestinian Ministry
• 128, historic buildings of historical/artistic interest damaged (UNESCO)
• €261.15 million, estimated cost of cultural heritage sector recovery over 8 years
• October 10, 2025, ceasefire date after which on-site UNESCO assessments began
• 14 sites listed with UNESCO by Palestine in January 2026

Why it matters

Gaza contains archaeological layers spanning more than 3,000 years, including Bronze Age, Iron Age, Byzantine, Islamic and Ottoman periods. The destruction of Heritage in Conflict sites in active conflict zones is addressed by the 1954 Hague Convention and its protocols, but enforcement against parties to the convention has been historically weak. The scale of documented damage in Gaza is among the largest single-conflict tallies for cultural heritage in the modern era. The UNESCO assessment also creates a formal international record that will be cited in any future post-conflict accountability processes, reconstruction financing negotiations and heritage recovery planning.

What to watch

• UNESCO's subsequent assessment rounds as access to more sites becomes possible
• Whether the International Criminal Court cites heritage destruction in any charges related to the Gaza conflict
• Palestinian government and international donor funding for heritage recovery
• Whether Anthedon Harbour or other Tentative List sites can be formally inscribed on the World Heritage List as part of a political or cultural recognition process