Muneer Elbaz still remembers walking hand in hand with his family through Gaza’s old markets, the call to prayer rising from the Great Omari Mosque as it has for centuries.
“These were the best days,” he said, recalling evenings when the mosque’s courtyard filled with worshippers and the surrounding alleys buzzed with traders. “This place transports us from one era to another.”
Today, the mosque lies scarred and partially collapsed, its prayer hall roof caved in, its minaret damaged, its stones scattered. For Elbaz, a Palestinian heritage consultant now involved in recovery efforts, the destruction feels like “a tree uprooted from the land.”
Workers carry out recovery efforts and search for missing artifacts at the Pasha Palace in Gaza City following damage caused by an Israeli strike, Gaza Strip, Palestine, Nov. 13, 2025. (AP Photo)
The devastation is part of a wider toll.
