Hamas urges UNESCO to save Gaza’s historic buildings

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Hamas has urged UNESCO to protect historic buildings in the Gaza Strip, saying Israel’s assault had left the Palestinian territory’s oldest church, last hammam baths and treasured mosques in ruins, AFP reports.

Footage and images posted on social media on Friday appeared to show the Great Omari Mosque, the largest and oldest in Gaza City, reduced to rubble.

Only the minaret appeared to be intact, with the surroundings — which have been a Christian or Muslim holy site since at least the fifth century — shattered.

Hamas’s antiquities ministry condemned the “ransacking of historical and archaeological sites” by the Israeli army.

“The crime of targeting and destroying archaeological sites should spur the world and UNESCO into action to preserve this great civilisational and cultural heritage,” said the antiquities ministry, which estimates that 104 mosques have been razed since the start of the conflict.

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