Inventory and assessment of libraries and bookshops

13 October 2026

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This list brings together summary records compiled from the research and contributions of a collective whose members gather, cross-reference and organise all available information in order to document, as accurately and comprehensively as possible, the destruction of places of reading and writing in the Gaza Strip: libraries, bookshops, cultural centres and other spaces where books circulate, are shared and passed on. This collective initiative seeks to preserve a record and memory of these destroyed places, their histories and what they represented in Palestinian cultural and intellectual life. When the time comes, this documentation may contribute to the databases of the international courts of justice (the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the International Court of Justice (ICJ)), both of which have already initiated proceedings.

This autumns 2026 will be devoted to the publication of a four-part series of fact sheets plus two chronological inventories of destroyed sites.

The cultural centres are gradually being documented by the dedicated team. Testimonies have been collected in an attempt to preserve the history of each venue.

As regards bookshops, contact has been established with each of the owners and managers of the establishments and their branches. The social media accounts of bookshops that were active online have also been carefully reviewed to gather every possible trace of the history of these places prior to their destruction. Precise location work has been carried out for these various sites, in order to identify both the historic headquarters and their branches. We are about to edit and publish a chronological inventory of destroyeds bookstores

At the same time, research is continuing into some of the iconic venues in the life of books and their readers in Gaza: the GHSL Library, the Palestine nursing school library, the libraries of the al-Aqsa University...

Also in preparation is the publication of four fact sheets on Children libraries.

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