Farewell to the people of Gaza, and farewell to the cultural heritage of the Palestinian enclave, which was brimming with exceptional archaeological sites, including vestiges of the Ottoman, Roman and Byzantine empires.
Today, the remains of a Byzantine church built in the second half of the 5th century in Jabaliya, just one kilometre from the border, are being crushed by Israeli army bombardments. The site is renowned for its 400 m2 of mosaic pavements with exceptionally fine animal and floral motifs and its 17 medallions, oval or rectangular, surrounding inscriptions written in ancient Greek. Names of bishops, priests, benefactors and prayers are written and dated. "These are the finest mosaic floors discovered in Gaza, both in terms of the quality of the graphic representation and the complexity of the geometry," French archaeologist René Elter told Reuters.
Photo: Byzantine-era mosaic discovered at Bureij, in the Gaza Strip. Photo AFP.