A large amount of finds from the French Biblical Archaeological School (EBAF) excavations in Gaza have survived thanks to a last-minute rescue operation ahead of the planned strike of the building that housed the collection.

For a week, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) strategy in Gaza City had been to target the tallest buildings to push residents south—a prelude to Operation Chariots of Gideon II, aimed at seizing and occupying the city. On September 10, the IDF announced the bombing of a multistory building in Gaza’s Rimal district, whose ground floor—a storage space of 180 m³—contained archaeological artifacts from almost 30 years of EBAF excavations.

EBAF’s archaeological work in Gaza, carried out after 1994 following the Oslo Accords, was initially conducted in cooperation with the newly established (1995) Gaza Antiquities Service. Since the Israeli blockade in 2007, the work has continued under the Intiqal program of the NGO Première Urgence Internationale and the British Council. Excavations focused on five major sites: the Roman port of Anthedon/Blakhiyah (adjacent to a Roman necropolis), the monastery of St. Hilarion, the Byzantine church complex of Mukheitim (Jabaliyah), and the early Christian sites of Abassan el-Kabir and Abu Barakeh.

Since October 7, 2023, most of Gaza’s archaeological and cultural heritage has been destroyed as part of a broader campaign targeting Palestinian history and culture. Among the damaged or lost sites are the city’s two archaeological museums, al-Mathaf and Al Qarara, St. Hilarion Monastery survives heavily wounded (here a January 2025 inspection by archaeologist Fadel Al Utol) and UNESCO has so far documented damage to 110 heritage sites across the strip. In January 2024, Israeli soldiers and the director of the Israeli Antiquities Authority entered the EBAF storage facility in Rimal and filmed a video, later circulated on social media, claiming some objects had been placed in “a small showcase at the Knesset”—a claim that was later denied. Many items were also damaged or lost, as shelves had been stripped for firewood. Yet, according to EBAF-affiliated archaeologist , Intiqal coordinator René Elter, the artifacts were generally kept classified and cared for, thanks to the continuous efforts of Gaza’s archaeologists. Along with 221 items that were sent to Europe for an exhibition in 2000 and remained there, the EBAF warehouse content constitutes one of the last witnesses to 5,000 years of regional culture.

Following the September 10 announcement of the imminent bombing, EBAF staff were immediately alarmed. Residents were initially given only a 30-minute evacuation warning. In a message sent that day, it was noted that by the following day, Gaza’s entire material and ethnological archaeological heritage could be lost. Diplomats, archaeologists, and other officials rapidly mobilized to relocate the artifacts. After urgent negotiations, Gaza’s “monuments men” secured a series of bombing postponements. With support from France, UNESCO, and the Latin Patriarchate, a large portion of the collection was quickly loaded onto six trucks and relocated.

A key factor in the negotiations was that the storage facility falls under the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict and belongs to an ecclesiastical institution. According to Haaretz, the IDF’s spokesperson confirmed that the warehouse was known to officers and considered part of the “international community”—a designation that enabled the transfer, which took place in coordination with the Gaza Liaison and Coordination Administration.

Elter emphasized that heritage workers, including volunteers, operated under extreme pressure, compounded by the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the area. The items could not be moved outside Gaza, as doing so would have removed them from the protection of international law. Haaretz reports that the most important artifacts are now stored in a church in Gaza City, considered an unlikely future target. The same source notes that the Rimal building was ultimately struck – an update hinting the objects that stayed behind are now lost forever.