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UNESCO

Boys sit atop the fallen minaret of a destroyed mosque in Gaza City on February 7, 2026. (Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
February 14, 2026, 10:54 am
After two years of war, Palestinians scramble to salvage Gaza’s history
Palestinians fear destruction and damage to mosques, churches and archaeological sites threatens to erase centuries of history; recovery efforts face obstacles under ceasefire
By AP and ToI Staff
Flames engulf trees in the forests of Chalus, Iran, amid days-long fires in the country's Hyrcanian forests, November 21, 2025. (MEHRAB FARSAD / ISNA / AFP)
November 22, 2025, 1:27 pm
Iran seeks ‘urgent assistance’ to put out fire in UNESCO-listed Hyrcanian forests
Aircraft and staff to arrive from Turkey, more assistance may be sought from Russia, after Tehran ‘faced with the impossibility’ of fighting flames alone, officials tell state media
By AFP
Workers start the rehabilitation on what remains of the Pasha Palace Museum, damaged by two years of fighting between Israel and Hamas, in Gaza City on November 11, 2025. (Omar al-Qataa/AFP)
November 13, 2025, 7:13 pm
As ceasefire holds, Gazans begin restoring historic fort damaged in war
Pasha Palace, a medieval fortress-turned-museum said to have housed Napoleon Bonaparte for a one-night stay in Gaza, is one of over 100 UN heritage sites damaged in fighting
By AFP
An aerial picture taken on February 13, 2022, shows the Great Ziggurat of Ur in Iraq's southern province of Dhi Qar near the city of Nasiriyah. (Asaad NIAZI / AFP)
October 30, 2025, 12:01 pm
Major archaeological sites in Iraq at risk of erosion due to climate change
Dry weather is increasing salinity in soil and damaging ruins of cities such as Ur, birthplace of Biblical patriarch Abraham, and ancient capital Babylon, warn archaeologists
By Mohammed Atti and Ahmed Saeed
Khaled El-Enany, Egyptologist and former Minister of Tourism and Antiquities of Egypt, and candidate to become head of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) speaks during an interview with AFP at a hotel in Paris on April 10, 2025. (Xavier GALIANA / AFP)
October 7, 2025, 2:00 pm
UNESCO board backs Egyptian for chief amid allegations it is biased against Israel
International cultural body’s general assembly must ratify appointment of former antiquities minister Khaled el-Enany, but has never rejected an executive board recommendation
By Agencies
(COMBO) This combination of pictures created on October 02, 2025 shows the two candidates to become the head of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO): Congolese diplomat, development economist, and specialist international relations specialist, Firmin Edouard Matoko (L) posing during a photo session in Paris, on September 26, 2025 and Khaled El-Enany, former Minister of Tourism and Antiquities of Egypt and candidate to become the head of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) poses during a photo session in Paris on October 1, 2025. An Egyptian ex-minister is the favourite to become head of the UN's culture agency, but his Congolese rival says bets are still off before a key decision next week. (Joël SAGET and Julien DE ROSA / AFP)
October 6, 2025, 12:02 pm
UNESCO to choose new leader amid controversies over anti-Israel bias claims
Candidates are Egyptian Khaled el-Enany, who wants to be agency’s first Arab leader, and Congolese Firmin Matoko, who wants to depart from political tensions after US pullout
By AP
In this July 17, 2019 photo, young Palestinians sit among ancient artifacts displayed inside Shahwan private museum in a basement of a building in town of Khan Younis, Southern Gaza Strip. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
September 17, 2025, 8:20 am
Thousands of archaeological relics rescued in Gaza ahead of IDF strike
Army says Hamas was using warehouse that contained artifacts from over 25 years of excavations, including some of the oldest known evidence of Christianity in Gaza
By Melanie Lidman
A Palestinian and UN flag wave together for the first time above a UN agency, the UNESCO headquarters in Paris (with the Eiffel tower in the background), on December 13, 2011. (Photo by Joël SAGET / AFP)
July 22, 2025, 6:08 pm
Trump again to pull US out of ‘woke’ UNESCO, citing anti-Israel bias
White House slams cultural agency’s ‘globalist agenda’ and stance on Palestine; Israel welcomes exit while UNESCO ‘regrets’ it, points to increased efforts against antisemitism
By Nava Freiberg, Lazar Berman and Agencies
Israelis visit the site of Sebastia near the West Bank city of Nablus, on April 22, 2019. (Hillel Maeir/ Flash90/ File)
May 12, 2025, 9:44 pm
Archaeologists launch new excavation in West Bank at capital of ancient Israel
Sebastia archaeological site features remains from biblical to modern times; Palestinian Authority denounces dig, accusing Israel of ‘colonial and Judaization practices’
By Rossella Tercatin
US President Donald Trump holds an executive order regarding withdrawing from the United Nations Human Rights Council in the Oval Office of the White House, February 4, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
February 5, 2025, 1:43 pm
Trump withdraws US from UN Human Rights Council, permanently ends funding to UNRWA
The UN ‘has to get its act together,’ US president says, as he signs executive order calling for review of UNESCO, and UN institutions generally, that cites ‘anti-Israel bias’
By Agencies, Jacob Magid and ToI Staff
Members of the UNIFIL peacekeeping force stand at the site of an Israeli strike at the northern entrance of the southern city of Sidon, on November 7, 2024. (Mahmoud Zayyat/AFP)
November 7, 2024, 8:27 pm
Lebanon says 3 killed and several UN peacekeepers, Lebanese soldiers injured in strike
Hezbollah fires more than 120 rockets into Israel, wounding man, 85; UNESCO to hold a special meeting on efforts to protect Lebanese historical sites amid fighting
By Emanuel Fabian, Lazar Berman, Agencies and ToI Staff
UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay (L) and US Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff attend a meeting dedicated to combating antisemitism through education, at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris on August 8, 2024. (STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN / AFP)
August 8, 2024, 8:32 pm
US donates $2.2 million to UNESCO to fight antisemitism
Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff addresses post-Oct. 7 surge of Jew-hatred at UNESCO event in Paris; Biden administration rejoined agency after Trump withdrew over anti-Israel bias
By AFP
The archaeological site of Saint Hilarion in the center of the Gaza Strip, on June 8, 2022. (Mahmud HAMS / AFP)
July 27, 2024, 7:34 pm
UNESCO puts monastery in Gaza, one of Middle East’s oldest, on endangered site list
UN’s World Heritage Center says fourth-century site faces risk of destruction amid ongoing war between Israel and Hamas
By AFP and ToI Staff
Fleeing Iraqi civilians pass the heavily damaged al-Nuri mosque as Iraqi forces continue their advance against the Islamic State in the Old City of Mosul, July 4, 2017. (AP/Felipe Dana)
June 30, 2024, 3:26 pm
UNESCO finds Islamic State bombs in Mosul mosque walls, years after group’s defeat
A decade ago, Al-Baghdadi declared caliphate from the house of worship, which was destroyed by ISIS in 2017; UN body says five large-scale devices found concealed in prayer hall
By ABDULRAHMAN ZEYAD
Illustrative: The Hall of Names at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem (Mendy Hechtman/Flash90)
June 18, 2024, 2:43 pm
AI could spread false and misleading information on Holocaust, UNESCO report warns
UN education body says flaws in programs or deliberate action by hate groups could cause artificial intelligence systems to question Nazi murder of Jews, fueling antisemitism
By David Klepper
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