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More than 960 mosques were damaged by Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip in 2024, the Ministry of Awqaf and Religious Affairs revealed.

The ministry said that 815 Islamic holy sites were entirely destroyed, and 151 were partially damaged, with reconstruction costs estimated at $500 million.

The ministry added that 19 cemeteries and three churches were destroyed by Israeli forces in 2024.

These include the Great Omari Mosque, considered one of the most important and oldest mosques in historical Palestine, and the Church of Saint Porphyrius, which is considered to be the third oldest church in the world that resulted in 18 people being killed.

Israel launched its latest offensive on the Gaza Strip after 7 October 2023, flattening buildings and infrastructure and killing over 45,000 civilians.

The ministry also found that 20 mosques in the occupied West Bank have also been attacked during this time.

Many of these sites are being used as shelters for displaced Palestinians fleeing Israel’s attacks.

Most recently, an Israeli strike on a mosque and school in Deir el-Balah, where many displaced people were sheltering, killed at least 26, with the Israeli army claiming it had targeted a Hamas command and control centre without providing any evidence.

Hundreds of imams and religious scholars have also been killed during the offensive, with the ministry revealing about 300 scholars, including Quranic teachers, Islamic preachers and imams, have been killed during the now-15^th month offensive.

Israeli settlers also conducted 256 settler raids into the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem last year. Settlers would perform rituals and prohibit Muslim worshippers from entering the compound to pray.

The loss of these religious landmarks has been described as a form of cultural genocide against the Palestinians.