An urgent letter from UN Watch was sent to UNESCO director-general Irina Bokova, demanding immediate action to stop Hamas from  bulldozing a 3000-year-old Gaza harbor for use as a terrorist training camp. The destruction was reported by Al Monitor Palestine Pulse. A copy was also sent to EU foreign minister Catherine Ashton calling on the EU to take action.

The partial destruction of the ancient Anthedon Harbor—which includes the ruins of a Roman temple and archaeological remains from the Persian, Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine eras—comes exactly one year after the area was nominated by new UNESCO member state Palestine as a World Heritage site.

UN Watch, an independent Geneva-based monitoring group, called on Bokova to bring the issue before the UNESCO executive board now meeting in Paris.

Although the biannual UNESCO meeting, which runs until April 26, lists five agenda items concerning Palestinian issues—which US Ambassador Killion has described as “highly politicized” and designed to “single out Israel”—there is currently no scheduled discussion to address the month-long Hamas bulldozing of the proposed heritage site.