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January 6, 2025 | 09:00 am
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Israeli attacks during the more than year-long war have devastated buildings in the Gaza Strip, including nearly 1,000 mosques.
In a statement quoted by Anadolu Agency, the Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs said 815 Muslim places of worship were completely destroyed and 151 others were partially damaged.
The ministry said 19 cemeteries and three churches were also destroyed in Israel's genocidal war on Gaza in 2024.
Among those destroyed were the Grand Omari Mosque, one of the most important and ancient mosques in Palestinian history, and the Church of St. Porphyrius, considered the third oldest church in the world.
In addition, Israel also destroyed a 2,000-year-old Roman cemetery in northern Gaza that had only been excavated two years earlier, and the Rafah Museum, a site in southern Gaza dedicated to teaching the region's long and multi-layered historical heritage - until it was destroyed by airstrikes at the start of the war.
In the occupied West Bank, the ministry recorded 256 settler incursions into the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem last year.
According to the ministry, some 2,567 illegal settlers forced their way into the mosque compound to celebrate the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah, which lasts for a week from December 25 to January 2.
The incursion into the Al-Aqsa Mosque was led by Israel’s extremist National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, The New Arab reported.
On the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah, the right-wing, pro-settler politician, who is notorious for inciting violence against Palestinians, declared his visit to “pray for the safety of the soldiers” and “victory in the war” in Gaza.
He also posted a photo of himself on social media platform X with the mosque in the background. The Israeli minister, who heads the extremist Jewish Power party, has long said that Jewish prayer should be allowed at Al-Aqsa, a violation of long-standing status quo agreements.
Under the agreement, worship at Al-Aqsa is reserved for Muslims only, while people of other faiths can enter as visitors.
The latest war on Gaza is not the first time Israel has targeted heritage sites. Dozens of sites, including the now-defunct Grand Mosque of Omari, were damaged in 2014.
A report by UNESCO, the UN body that designates and protects World Heritage sites, said more destruction of cultural and historical sites would occur in Gaza in 2021.
Tensions have been high across the occupied Palestinian territories over Israel’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip, which has killed more than 45,800 people, mostly women and children, since Oct. 7, 2023.
In November, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel is also facing a genocide case at the International Court over the deadly war on Gaza.
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