Central Archives of Gaza City
Municipal archive in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, Palestine
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Central Archives of Gaza City (Arabic: أرشيف غزة المركزي, arshif ghaza almarkazi) was an archive and study centre in Gaza, Palestine. The centre was destroyed in late November 2023 during the Gaza war.
| Central Archives of Gaza City | |
|---|---|
 Interactive map of Central Archives of Gaza City | |
| 31°30′25″N 34°27′36″E | |
| Alternative name | أرشيف غزة المركزي |
| Location | Gaza City, Palestine |
| Type | National archives |
| Dissolution | 2023 (destroyed) |
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]
Destruction
Al Jazeera reported the building had been targeted repeatedly since the October 7 attacks.[1] 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.[3] The Palestinian branch of International Council on Monuments and Sites (Icomos) reported the archives completely destroyed.[4] Images were released by Birzeit University and local press on social media, showing the vast majority of flammable material reduced to ashes.[3] Khalil Sayegh, a Palestinian analyst, related the destruction to the 1982 theft of material relating to the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) from the Palestinian Research Centre in Beirut.[2]
Gaza Municipality said that the bombing caused a major fire in the Municipality headquarters, according to the Palestinian Information Center.[5][better source needed]
Responses by international archivist and history associations
The International Council on Archives put out a statement condemning "all actors in the region" drawing on The Universal Declaration on Archives.[6] The Oral History Society, said 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 digitized archives involve the online repository Palestinian Nexus.[9]