TEHRAN – Archaeologists evacuated nearly 30 years of discovery from a Gaza city building on Wednesday after Israeli authorities warned it would be a target on an air strike, officials said.
“This was a high-risk operation that took place in a very dangerous context for all involved. A real last-minute rescue,” said Olivier Pokkillon, director of the French School of Bible and Archaeology (EBAF), which preserved the artifacts.
The Israeli military did not confirm that it would issue a warning when asked by the AFP, but according to some sources, the Latin Fathers of France, UNESCO and Jerusalem had a short reprieve to remove most of the craft from the warehouse on the first floor of the home.
“There were very few international actors left on the ground, the infrastructure didn’t work, and we had to improvise transportation, labor and logistics,” Pokkeion said.
The evacuation was kept secret, he added, adding that Israeli operations continued in Gaza’s largest urban centre gave them priority to avoid risks to human life.
The collection included approximately 180 cubic meters of discoveries from five major archaeological sites in Gaza, including the 4th century St. Hilarion Monastery, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The EBAF said the monastery’s mosaic remains damaged and vulnerable to damage.
“Gaza has a very old heritage that is incredibly valuable to the region, indicating the succession and coexistence of people, culture and religion,” Pokkiyon said.
One of Gaza’s two museums was destroyed, and the other has been severely damaged since the conflict began nearly two years ago. Researchers told AFP that the EBAF storage is the only important repository of artifacts left in the territory.
The archaeological works of Gaza reopened after the Oslo Agreement in 1993 and were excavated in the ancient Greek port of Ansidon and in the Roman necropolis. After Hamas came to power in 2007 and Israel imposed a lockdown, the excavations halted and later reopened with support from the British Council and the French NGO Premiere Emergency International (PUI).
With ceasefire talks stuck and Israel is considering a full acquisition of Gaza, archaeologists said prospects for future excavations are limited. UNESCO has already identified damages to 94 heritage sites using satellite images that include the pasha palace in the 13th century, but has not implemented full inventory.
“We saved a large part, but in the rescue you always lose things and you always face painful choices,” said René Elter, an archaeologist who belongs to the Science Coordinator of EBAF and PUI.
Elter said the depot was particularly valuable because its collection was systematically classified. “Many items were broken or lost, but they were photographed and painted, so scientific information was preserved. Perhaps it would be the only trace of Gaza’s archaeology in books, publications and libraries,” he said.
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