Its walls collapsed and its minaret cut short, Gaza’s Omari mosque remains standing but vastly diminished. Around it, the historic old city is also in tatters. The 7th-century mosque, also known as the Great Mosque of Gaza, was Gaza’s most famous and its surroundings a focal point of the Palestinian enclave’s history and culture, but the damage done to its heritage over more than 100 days of Israeli bombardment spreads across the city.

For the few Palestinians who remain, and the far greater number displaced and hoping to return, the culture and history has been reduced to memories.

“The city is a ghost town, people walk around with pale faces and their spirits are tired after having gone through this war. If you walk to the old city of Gaza, you will only remember the memories and feel sickened and saddened by the amount of destruction of cultural and religious sites,” said Bader Alzaharna, who lives in Gaza City despite the intensity of Israel’s ground operation in the area.

“The old city of Gaza, which used to be full of cultural sites, is grey and overcast. Walking in Gaza feels like we are in a movie, in a fictional story, in a fantasy. The scene is apocalyptic.”

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    • @Rapidcreek
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      -208 months ago

      Didn’t you tell me a few months ago that Gaza was an air prison and that the Israelis are occupying Gaza, which is already an impossible place to live? So which one was it? An air prison or a beautiful place?

      • ivanafterall
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        8 months ago

        I won’t talk you out of loving the smell of your own farts, but: do you think it’s possible parts of North Korea are beautiful? Could one, I don’t know, imprison someone in a palace?

            • @Rapidcreek
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              -148 months ago

              Always love it when people can’t defend their own rhetoric then think they’re really something.

      • NoneOfUrBusiness
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        48 months ago

        I was gonna seriously respond, but honestly just get a life and stop licking Nazis’ boots.

        • @Rapidcreek
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          -58 months ago

          That’s a response I guess. Best you can do,