00:00Amid the rubble of the Amari Mosque, volunteers work to save what's left of its extensive library.
00:07After being hit by Israeli strikes in December 2023, the building is littered with dust and rubble, putting its collection
00:14at risk.
00:17I was shocked and stunned when I saw the extent of the destruction in the library.
00:21I couldn't bear it and felt compelled to save these books.
00:24So we took it upon ourselves to launch a volunteer initiative to work on rescuing whatever we could from the
00:29library.
00:32Situated in the old town of Gaza City, the Amari Mosque's library contains books on subjects including medicine, Islamic law
00:39and literature, as well as ancient manuscripts.
00:43Saving the books is a delicate process.
00:46Volunteers wear gloves to remove dust with paintbrushes and pick through the burnt remains of texts to see what can
00:53be rescued.
00:54The library once held the third largest collection in Gaza, but more than three-quarters of the books have already
01:00been lost.
01:03The western part of the library was burned.
01:06The library was estimated to contain about 20,000 books, but currently we are left with fewer than 3,000
01:11or 4,000 books.
01:15The mosque's origins as a religious site date back more than 2,000 years.
01:21Intentionally damaging cultural sites can be considered a war crime under international law.
01:27The UN's cultural agency, UNESCO, has verified damage to 150 sites in Gaza since the start of the war.
01:34These include 14 religious sites and 115 buildings of historical or artistic interest.
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