A la ISIS, Hamas Leveled a 4,500-Year-Old Canaanite Community

Taking a chapter from the Islamic State’s playbook, archaeologists report that Hamas leveled a 4,500-year-old community in the Gaza Strip that dates to the Bronze Age. Excavation of the site of Tel Es-Sakan (hill of ash) began twenty years ago by a team of two archaeologists — a Frenchman and a Palestinian – on a hill top in the southern part of Gaza City. It is described as the largest Canaanite city between the Palestinian areas and Egypt and is a thousand years older than the pyramids. But the Associated Press is reporting that the last remnants of the city are being flattened by Hamas bulldozers to clear the way for construction. That, according to AP, pitted two departments run by Hamas against each other. Although Tel Es-Sakan is a protected site, the ministry of antiquities was unable to prevent the land authority from destroying it.