Gazans begin restoration of war-ravaged fortress

PASHA PALACE MUSEUM ONCE HOUSED NAPOLEON BONAPARTE

- 

Workers start rehabilitation on what remains of the Pasha Palace Museum, damaged by fighting between Israel and Hamas, in Gaza City. A dozen workers worked by hand to excavate the bombarded buildings that remain of the museum.

One bucket at a time, Palestinian workers cleared sand and crumbling mortar from the remains of a former medieval fortress-turned-museum in Gaza City, damaged by two years of fighting between Israel and Hamas.

A dozen workers in high visibility jackets worked by hand to excavate the bombarded buildings that remain of the Pasha Palace Museum — which reputedly once housed Napoleon Bonaparte during a one-night stay in Gaza — stacking stones to be reused in one pile, and rubble to be discarded in another.

Overhead, an Israeli surveillance drone buzzed while the team toiled in silence.

"The Pasha Palace Museum is one of the most important sites destroyed during the recent war on Gaza City," Hamouda Al Dahdar, the cultural heritage expert in charge of the restoration works, told AFP, adding that more than 70 per cent of the palace's buildings were destroyed.