Central_Archives_of_Gaza_City
Central Archives of Gaza City
Municipal archive in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, Palestine
The Central Archives of Gaza City (Arabic: أرشيف غزة المركزي, arshif ghaza almarkazi) was an archive and study centre in Gaza, Palestine. Containing 150 years of archival material relating to Palestinian life and culture, the centre was destroyed in late November 2023 during the Israel–Hamas war.
The Central Archives were kept within the administrative buildings of Gaza City.[1] The archive contained materials that documented the lives of Palestinians going back 150 years, as well as material relating to urban development.[1][2] Both the Palestinian Information Center and Al Jazeera reported that it had been a potential Israeli target since 7 October 2023.[1][3] The New Arab reported that heavy shelling in late November led to its destruction,[2] including, according to Middle East Eye, a bombing on 29 November.[4] A preliminary damage report from the International Council on Monuments and Sites found that the archives had been completely destroyed.[5] Images were released by Birzeit University and local press on social media.[4] Khalil Sayegh drew a direct comparison with the 1982 theft of material relating to the Palestinian Liberation Organisation from the Palestinian Research Centre in Beirut.[2]
In response to the deliberate destruction the International Council on Archives put out a statement condemning "all actors in the region" drawing on The Universal Declaration on Archives.[6] A further public statement was made by the Oral History Society, stating it would "do its best to support the recording and remembering of that history when the rebuilding of Gaza can begin".[7] Other statements were shared by the Association of Canadian Archivists,[8] amongst others. Efforts to record and archive remaining digitised archives involve the online repository Palestinian Nexus.[9]