An official who oversaw nearly three decades of archaeological discoveries in Gaza said ancient artifacts were hurriedly evacuated from a building in Gaza City after it was marked for an Israeli airstrike.
"This was a high-risk operation, carried out in an extremely dangerous context for everyone involved - a real last-minute rescue," said Olivier Poquillon, director of the French Biblical and Archaeological School of Jerusalem (EBAF), which housed the collection.
On Wednesday morning, Israeli authorities ordered the evacuation of EBAF's archaeological storehouse, located on the ground floor of a residential tower in Gaza City.
The Israeli army did not confirm the warning. However, several sources said France, UNESCO, and the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem intervened to secure a brief reprieve, giving staff enough time to remove most of the artifacts.
"With almost no international actors left on the ground, no infrastructure, nothing functioning, we had to improvise transport, labour and logistics," Poquillon said. He added that the evacuation was carried out in strict secrecy, with the priority of not putting lives at risk as Israeli forces advanced through Gaza's largest urban center.
The storehouse contained about 180 cubic meters of finds from five of Gaza's main archaeological sites. Among them was the fourth-century Saint Hilarion monastery, a UNESCO World Heritage site. EBAF confirmed that all of these sites have been damaged and expressed concern for the fragile mosaics left exposed.
Poquillon described Gaza as home to "an extremely ancient heritage, very precious for the region, showing the succession and coexistence of peoples, cultures and religions."
Since the war began nearly two years ago, one of Gaza's two museums has been destroyed and the other badly damaged. Researchers stated that apart from scattered ruins vulnerable to bombardment, the EBAF storehouse had been the last significant repository of artifacts in the Palestinian territory.
The rediscovery of Gaza's past gained momentum after the 1993 Oslo Accords. In 1995, the newly established Gaza Antiquities Service began its first dig with EBAF, uncovering remnants of the ancient Greek port of Anthedon and a Roman necropolis.
Work stopped in 2007 when Hamas seized power and Israel imposed a blockade, before resuming later with support from the British Council and French NGO Première Urgence Internationale (PUI).
With Israel considering a full takeover of Gaza and ceasefire talks stalled, archaeologists say prospects for renewed excavations are bleak. UNESCO has already identified damage to 94 heritage sites using satellite images, including the 13th-century Pasha's Palace, though a full inventory has not been possible.
"We saved a large part, but in a rescue you always lose things, and you always face painful choices," said René Elter, an archaeologist with EBAF and scientific coordinator for PUI.
He noted the storehouse's special value lay in its systematic classification. "Many items have been broken or lost, but they had been photographed or drawn, so the scientific information is preserved." He added, "Perhaps that will be the only trace that remains of Gaza's archaeology -- in books, publications, libraries."