GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Gazans are turning a blind eye to scores of archaeological sites rife with artifacts and antiquities and to large marble and stone columns dating back to the Canaanite, Pharaonic, Byzantine, Roman and Islamic eras. Experts and researchers are now raising the alarm about the indifference of residents, resulting from a lack of societal awareness of the historical and economic value these antiquities carry.

The Gaza Strip is home to scores of discovered and undiscovered archaeological sites. Hayam Albetar, officer in charge of researches and studies at the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, told Al-Monitor, “Gaza is an archaeological site filled with cities, walls, fortresses and artifacts, and exploration operations are addressing no more than 1% of what is underground.”

On the northeastern border of Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip, the al-Zana area is replete with archaeological sites. Akram Qaoud, who owns land there, found hundreds of broken pottery artifacts but never showed much interest in them. He told Al-Monitor, “This area was a city thousands of years ago. If I dig my land at different depths, I would find dozens of artifacts. At the end of the day, what would I do with the findings?”

Speaking of the importance of the al-Zana area, Albetar told Al-Monitor, “The northeastern area of Khan Yunis is known as ‘Maabar al-Hijrat’ [Passage of Immigration] because it was the gate to Gaza from the south — for the Canaanites, Persians, Romans and Muslims. There were also Byzantine villages in this area. If residents dug meters below their feet, they would find metal and pottery artifacts. These would be found close to the ground because the soil absorbs the water of the valley and is alluvial. Yet people here are not interested in these items, as they wouldn't know what to do with them, there are no museums that would take them and people can’t sell them because of the closure of border crossings and the blockade.”