February 21, 2024, 1:41pm
As reported earlier this week by Ramy Abdu, Chairman of Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, the Israeli army has burned down the the publishing house and library of Al-Kalima in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood in Gaza.
Breaking: The Israeli army destroys and burns down the publishing house and library of Al-Kalima in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood in Gaza. pic.twitter.com/TRUAW0oBiF
— Ramy Abdu| رامي عبده (@RamAbdu) February 19, 2024
Toppled bookshelves, stray pages, and piles of ash are now all that remains of the library, which was also the home of its founder, Atef al Durra—a refugee from the Bureij camp in central Gaza who established Al-Kalima in 2006.
At least 14 libraries have now been badly damaged or destroyed entirely by Israeli forces since October 7.
This includes the Gaza University Library (which was destroyed on October 9), the IBBY Children in Crisis Library (which had previously been destroyed by an Israeli airstrike in 2014), the Diana Tamari Sabbagh Library (which contained tens of thousands of books and had been sheltering hundreds of displaced Palestinians before it was shelled by Israeli forces on November 25), and the Al-Israa University Library and National Museum (which was looted by the Israeli military before it was destroyed by controlled demolition on January 18).
The Central Archives of Gaza (which contained 150 years of records pertaining to Gaza’s history) and the Great Omari Mosque (which contained one of the most significant collections of rare books in Palestine) have both also been destroyed.
Simultaneously: the Israeli military turns whole libraries to ash while Palestinians in Gaza are forced to burn their own books to warm their bodies or cook their food. As the teacher Asma Mustafa put it: “Books used to ignite our thoughts, now they feed our children.” https://t.co/EV1MEe6iQv
— Esmat Elhalaby (@thaqafatalhind) February 20, 2024