4IL

UNESCO expresses concern over the protection of cultural heritage sites amidst escalating violence in the Middle East. On Monday 2 march, the Golestan Palace in Tehran, a UNESCO World Heritage site, was reportedly damaged by debris and the shock wave following an airstrike to the Arag Square, located in the buffer zone of the site in the Iranian capital. UNESCO continues to closely monitor the situation of cultural heritage in the country and across the region, with a view to ensuring its protection. To that end, the Organization has communicated to all parties concerned the geographical coordinates of sites on the World Heritage List as well as those of national significance, to avoid any potential damage. UNESCO recalls that cultural property is protected under international law, notably the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, including its enhanced protection mechanism, as well as the 1972 Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage.

Amir Muhammad Shanaran (28) was killed today (Saturday) and his brother Khaled was critically wounded after armed Israeli settlers opened fire on them at point-blank range in Khirbet Wadi a-Rakhim in the South Hebron Hills. Under the cover of the Israeli-American attack on Iran, the cooperation between the military and Israeli settler militias is expanding the ethnic cleansing of the West Bank. On Monday, 2 March, a settler shot and killed two brothers in the village of Qaryut; other shootings across the West Bank left additional Palestinians injured.