Zeitoun, Gaza

The Zeitoun killings refer to the Israeli military incursion, led by the Givati Brigade unit of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), into the Zeitoun district of Gaza as part of the three-week 2008-09 Gaza War. In the Arab world, it is referred to as the Zeitoun District Massacre (Arabic: مجزرة حي الزيتون). A total of 48 residents of Zeitoun were killed, most of them women, children, and the elderly; 27 homes, a mosque and a number of farms were destroyed by Israeli forces.The New York Times reported that during the three-week conflict "few neighborhoods suffered more than Zeitoun." A report released by United Nations Office for Humanitarian Affairs stated that the attack on the Samouni family, who were among the Zeitoun victims, was one of the "gravest incidents" in the conflict. According to Haaretz, the IDF delayed rescue services from reaching some of the casualties for three days of the incident.Zeitoun residents believed that because the area is a natural choke point where the Gaza strip narrows to just four miles wide, Israeli troops turned their neighborhoods into a military base from which to launch their operations. The IDF has refused to discuss individual charges in detail, but an army spokesman speaking on the condition of anonymity with The Los Angeles Times said, "As a matter of policy, we do not target civilians." He added, "These situations are very complex and our soldiers do the best they can."Lt. Col. (ret.) Jonathan D. Halevi of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, an Israeli think tank and advocacy organisation, said that printed flyers from Palestinian Islamic Jihad and its associated websites named five members of the Samouni extended family as being affiliated with the group in some role. Halevi also states that militants from that organisation were operating in the area around the time Israeli tanks began shelling the group of homes belonging to the Samouni extended family.According to the New York Times, members of the Samouni family "did not deny that Hamas militants operated in the area. A family member said there was no active Hamas resistance in the immediate vicinity, although militants were firing rockets at Israel a little more than a mile away." Newsweek reported that the survivors of Zeitoun all insisted that they were simply farmers and that their area had never been used to fire rockets.

Al-Zaytun (also spelled Zeitoun or Harat az-Zaytoun; Arabic: الزيتون; Arabic translation: "the Quarter of Olive trees") is the southwestern and largest quarter of Gaza's Old City. Prior to the demolition of the Old City's walls, it was one of the three walled quarters of Gaza's Old City, the other two being al-Tuffah in the northeast and al-Daraj in the northwest. Omar Mukhtar Street, Gaza City's main thoroughfare, separates al-Zaytun from al-Daraj.

The Church of Saint Porphyrius (Greek: Εκκλησία του Αγίου Πορφυρίου, romanized: Ekklisía tou Agíou Porfyríou, IPA: [e.kliˈsi.a tu aˈʝi.u por.fiˈri.u]; Arabic: كَنِيسَة الْقِدِّيس بُرْفِيرْيُوس, romanized: Kanīsat al-Qiddīs Burfīryūs) is a Greek Orthodox church in Gaza City, State of Palestine. It belongs to the Patriarchate of Jerusalem and is the oldest active church in the city and is said to be the third oldest church in the world. Located in the Zaytun Quarter of the Old City of Gaza, it is named after the 5th-century bishop of Gaza, Saint Porphyrius, whose tomb is situated in the northeastern corner of the church.

On 19 October 2023, part of the Church of Saint Porphyrius, a Greek Orthodox church in Gaza City, in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories, was damaged during an Israeli aistrike, killing at least 18 Palestinian civilians during the 2023 Israel–Hamas war. Over 450 Christian and Muslim Palestinian residents of the Gaza Strip had been sheltering there. According to the Israeli military the explosion resulted from one of its airstrikes, which had targeted a nearby Hamas rocket and mortar launch command post.

Katib al-Wilaya Mosque or Welayat Mosque (Arabic: جامع الولايات) was a small historic mosque located along Omar Mukhtar Street in Gaza City in the Zaytun Quarter of the Old City. The mosque was built by the Burji Mamluks in 1432, however, the structure could date further back to 1344. Additions to the western part of the mosque were commissioned in 1584 by Ahmed Bey, the Ottoman clerk of the Damascus Vilayet (Province of Damascus). Damascus Vilayet's Arabic transliteration was Wilayat Dimashq, hence the name of the mosque Katib al-Wilaya ("the clerk of the state").

Al-Ahli Arab Hospital (Arabic: المستشفى الأهلي العربي, lit. 'The Arab People's Hospital') is a hospital in Gaza City. Its headquarters are located in the Zeitoun neighborhood in the south of the city, and it is managed by the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem. Founded in 1882, it is one of the oldest hospitals in the city.

On 17 October 2023, an explosion took place in the parking lot of the courtyard of al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City during the Israel–Hamas war, resulting in a large number of fatalities and injuries among displaced Palestinians seeking shelter there. Reports of the number of fatalities vary widely. The Gaza Health Ministry reported 342 injured and 471 killed. The Anglican diocese that manages the hospital reported 200 people killed. US intelligence agencies assessed a death toll between 100 and 300. A report by Human Rights Watch also questioned the Health Ministry's casualty figures. The cause of the explosion is contested. Israel, the United States, France, the United Kingdom, and Canada said that their intelligence sources indicate the cause of the explosion was a failed rocket launch from within Gaza by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ). Hamas and PIJ stated the explosion was caused by an Israeli airstrike. The consensus from various independent studies of videos, images, and eyewitness reports of the explosion, its aftermath, and the blast area suggests that an errant rocket launch from within Gaza is the most probable cause. While this is not a conclusive finding, it is currently considered the likeliest explanation based on the evidence gathered in investigations conducted by the Associated Press, CNN, The Economist, The Guardian, and The Wall Street Journal. Human Rights Watch stated that the available evidence made an Israeli airstrike "highly unlikely".

Palestine Square (Arabic: ميدان فلسطين, romanized: Mīdān Falastīn), also known as Al-Saha or As-Saha (Arabic: الساحة, "the (community) space" or "the square"), is a city square in east-central Gaza City, State of Palestine, in between Jamal Abdel Nasser Street and Omar Mukhtar Street. It is the location of a bus station, a taxi station, a fruit market, a hospital, and dozens of small shops and vendors. Gaza's municipal headquarters is also located in the square. Palestine Square once was walled when it laid along the southern edge of the Old City, overlooking barley and vegetable farms, olive and almond groves.

The Great Mosque of Gaza (Arabic: المسجد غزة الكبير, transliteration: al-Masjid Ghazza al-Kabīr), also known as the Great Omari Mosque (Arabic: المسجد العمري الكبير, transliteration: al-Masjid al-ʿUmarī al-Kabīr), was the largest and oldest mosque in the Gaza Strip, located in Gaza's old city. Believed to stand on the site of an ancient Philistine temple, the site was used by the Byzantines to erect a church in the 5th century. After the Muslim conquest in the 7th century, it was transformed into a mosque. Described as "beautiful" by Ibn Battuta, an Arab geographer in the 10th century, the Great Mosque's minaret was toppled in an earthquake in 1033. In 1149, the Crusaders built a large church. It was mostly destroyed by the Ayyubids in 1187, and then rebuilt as a mosque by the Mamluks in the early 13th century. It was destroyed by the Mongols in 1260, then soon restored. It was destroyed by an earthquake at the end of the century. The Great Mosque was restored again by the Ottomans roughly 300 years later. Severely damaged after British bombardment during World War I, the mosque was restored in 1925 by the Supreme Muslim Council. It was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike on 7 December 2023, leaving only the minaret intact and much of the rest reduced to rubble.

The Central Archives of Gaza City (Arabic: أرشيف غزة المركزي, arshif ghaza almarkazi) was an archive and study centre in Gaza, Palestine. Containing 150 years of archival material relating to Palestinian life and culture, the centre was destroyed in late November 2023 during the Israel–Hamas war. The Central Archives were kept within the administrative buildings of Gaza City. The archive contained materials that documented the lives of Palestinians going back 150 years, as well as material relating to urban development. Both the Palestinian Information Center and Al Jazeera reported that it had been a potential Israeli target since 7 October 2023. The New Arab reported that heavy shelling in late November led to its destruction, including, according to Middle East Eye, a bombing on 29 November. A preliminary damage report from the International Council on Monuments and Sites found that the archives had been completely destroyed. Images were released by Birzeit University and local press on social media. Khalil Sayegh drew a direct comparison with the 1982 theft of material relating to the Palestinian Liberation Organisation from the Palestinian Research Centre in Beirut.In response to the deliberate destruction the International Council on Archives put out a statement condemning "all actors in the region" drawing on The Universal Declaration on Archives. A further public statement was made by the Oral History Society, stating it would "do its best to support the recording and remembering of that history when the rebuilding of Gaza can begin". Other statements were shared by the Association of Canadian Archivists, amongst others. Efforts to record and archive remaining digitised archives involve the online repository Palestinian Nexus.

Qasr al-Basha (Arabic: قصر الباشا), also known as Pasha's Palace Museum, Radwan Castle, and Napoleon's Fort, is a historical palace situated in the Old City of Gaza, now housing a museum and a girls' school. It served as a seat of power in the Mamluk and Ottoman periods and as a police station under the British Mandate.

The Ibn Uthman Mosque (Arabic: مسجد ابن عثمان Jami Ibn 'Uthman) is a mosque in Gaza City, in the Gaza Strip, Palestine. It is regarded as second only to the Great Mosque of Gaza in terms of beauty and status as a Friday mosque. Noted for its architectural patterns, the mosque was established in three different stages during the Burji Mamluk period of rule in Gaza.