The Museum of Gaza has been severely damaged as a result of the Israeli air and land strikes launched during the 23-day war on the strip.

According to a report by Lauren Gelfond Feldinger, published in The Art Newspaper, Gaza's only museum is a private one run by Gazan contractor and collector Jawdat Khoudary.

Strikes have shattered the building's glass doors and windows, damaging the roof and the walls and destroying Roman and Byzantine pottery and Islamic bronze objects.

Archeologists are deeply concerned about the fate of Gaza's antiquities.

"I am very concerned: the entire Gaza Strip is an archaeological site," said founder of the Palestinian Antiquities Department of Gaza and a visiting lecturer at the University of Toronto, Professor Moain Sadeq.

"Historical sites and buildings in Gaza are adjacent to urban areas, so any location that was hit as a target also put the nearby historical sites and buildings in danger," he added.

According to Sadeq there are a number of cultural heritage sites, which are expected to have suffered damage including Tell es-Sakan, Tel el-Ajull, port of Anthedon, Jabalya church and Al-Zeitoun residential quarter.

Although archaeologists are concerned about the fate of the damaged sites, humanitarian assistance is considered the urgent priority now and archaeological surveys will have to wait for the time being.

TE/HGH