Meet the Palestinians saving books from the rubble to preserve a literary legacy

Not long ago, in March 2026, it was reported by the Cultural Cooperation Programme that 87 public libraries and archives in Gaza had been partially or completely destroyed by Israel’s ongoing genocide. 

Amid that destruction, efforts to save what remains of Gaza’s literary legacy are continuing.

On the floor of a small tent in southern Gaza’s Deir al-Balah, dozens of books that survived Israel’s genocide are piled on top of one another.

There are no shelves, cabinets or tables for readers. Some books spill onto the pavement as their owner tries to clean, arrange and protect them as best he can.

The books reached the south after an arduous rescue journey from beneath the rubble of a library destroyed in Beit Lahia, in northern Gaza.

Their owner wanted to give them a new lease of life and a chance to reach readers, while a large part of his collection remains buried beneath the debris.

"When I returned to the library, I found it destroyed. Without equipment or heavy machinery, I used a small hammer and, after hours of difficult work, managed to open a passage and reach part of the library," recalls Mohammed Saad, owner of al-Athar Library, who has spent 35 years collecting and preserving books.

"I began pulling the books out one by one."

Mohammed rescued part of his collection of roughly 100,000 books, while others remain trapped beneath the rubble.

His relationship with books began decades ago, he shares. 

He travelled to Egypt and bought books from various libraries, then continued collecting in Gaza, buying entire libraries and collections from people forced to sell, sometimes by the box, before sorting and storing them.

"I have a large stock of books, ranging from novels, short stories and poetry to religious books and books on the Palestinian cause, alongside others in various fields," he explains.

Keeping Gaza reading

Although the tent cannot match the capacity of his old library, it has become a temporary space to continue the rescue mission.

For Mohammed, saving books is complete only when they return to readers. When a book is opened again, something of the life the war tried to strip away is restored.

"I cannot currently provide shelves or a suitable place, yet they have begun finding their way back to readers," he adds.

"Children and young people come looking for novels, stories and other books. Some buy them at symbolic prices, while others browse and read for free as an encouragement to learn, which is my goal."

His efforts are not isolated. During Israel's war on the besieged enclave, individual initiatives emerged to collect what remained from libraries, homes, and educational and cultural institutions, and return it to readers, even in the simplest temporary spaces.

Among them is the work of Niveen al-Gharabli, 41, who set up a library on a Gaza street pavement after collecting books from the rubble of universities, public and private libraries destroyed by Israel's genocide.

"I collected books from the rubble of universities, public libraries and private libraries destroyed by the [Israeli] occupation, and opened a stall inside a tent," she explains.

The making of 'Phoenix Library'

Like Mohammed, Niveen is trying to put surviving books back into readers' hands. She offers them to university students and seekers of knowledge.

"If a student cannot afford to buy a book, I give it to him for free to help him learn," she adds.

The books range from religious and educational works to cultural material, but for Niveen, the initiative is an attempt to preserve knowledge in the face of destruction.

"My goal is to save a generation they wanted to destroy. It does not want us to learn, and we are doing everything we can to save this and future generations through occupation knowledge, because the Palestinian’s weapon is knowledge," she says.

For some, however, the effort to rescue books has grown beyond a temporary stall or collection of surviving volumes.

Omar Hamad, a 30-year-old pharmacist, began by rescuing books from his own library in Beit Hanoun. Not content with the roughly 120 books he had already found, he began searching for books in other places that had been destroyed in Israel's war. 

Over time, his individual efforts grew into a larger project named Phoenix Library, a reference to the mythical bird that rises from the ashes.

Omar felt a special responsibility towards books whenever he saw libraries and cultural centres bombed. His passion was rooted in a childhood attachment that drove him to seek knowledge from various sources.

"Every time I rescued a book, I felt I had saved a human being. I rescued books from under the rubble of the destroyed Islamic University library, and I found books, some dating back to before 1948, that had been printed in Gaza," he recalls.

The scale of his efforts grew quickly. On the first day, Omar retrieved around 400 books. The next day, he found another 300, including books from friends’ private libraries, repairing what could be repaired and saving what remained.

But the rescue process also revealed a painful aspect of the genocide. He saw some people taking books from destroyed buildings to use as fuel for cooking.

"I felt a deep pang, especially when it comes to books, some of which are more than 200 years old, representing part of the Palestinian heritage and legacy that should be preserved," he shares with ​​​​​​The New Arab. 

From there came the idea of establishing a new library to preserve the surviving books and provide a place for readers, researchers and students.

Today, the Phoenix Library holds around 7,300 books, including those he rescued himself, those donated by families, intellectuals, doctors and researchers, and those bought from stalls that sold them by the kilogramme.

He also bought and printed around 4,000 books, which made up the largest part of his collection.

Omar is keen to diversify the library’s content to include academic books, works on the history of Gaza and Palestine, books on Palestinian and Zionist politics, religious books, Islamic history, the history of the Arabic language, Palestinian novels, and translations from world literature.

Sorting through Gaza's damaged collections

The efforts of all three show that the destruction of libraries has not ended Gazans’ relationship with reading.

Books were part of their lives before the genocide and, during it, especially amid internet outages and the prolonged suspension of university and school education — for many, the books became a means of knowledge and a way to reclaim daily life amid bombardment and displacement.

But rescuing books has not been entirely an individual effort.

While individuals pull books from under the rubble or collect them for readers, teams and volunteers are also working to rescue the holdings of damaged public libraries, sorting, cleaning and repairing what can be repaired.

One of these efforts is underway in Gaza Municipality libraries, which include three main public libraries: the Public Library, the Diana Tamari Sabbagh Library at the Rashad Shawa Cultural Centre, and the Holst Cultural Centre Library.

These libraries had provided spaces for reading, research and learning.

Raed al-Wahidi, head of the libraries department at Gaza Municipality, explains that the scale of losses varies across libraries.

At the Public Library, which held around 70,000 books, roughly 70 percent remain.

Volunteers with limited resources are working to rescue, collect, sort and rearrange them, as well as repair damaged books.

Saving what remains

At the Rashad Shawa Cultural Centre, its collection of nearly 50,000 books was entirely lost.

At the Holst Library, around 10,000 books were lost after the centre sustained partial damage, while staff and volunteers try to rescue the remaining books.

Raed notes that the rescue process is not limited to intact books, but also includes repairing damaged ones that can be restored to service.

Workers cannot yet determine the final number of books rescued, but they continue with the resources available to them, on the principle that every book saved represents part of the knowledge these libraries have accumulated over the years.

He also highlights the individual initiatives that emerged during the war to rescue books from under rubble or from libraries, homes, and damaged sites, recognising their importance beyond simply saving them as material possessions.

Those efforts have helped preserve books that might otherwise have been lost and, in some cases, return them to readers.

The surviving books also carry parts of Gaza’s cultural and social memory.

Even as libraries and other spaces for reading and learning have been damaged or destroyed, individuals and volunteers are continuing to find ways to keep the books in use, whether on the floor of a tent or on a street pavement.

For those involved, returning the books to readers is also a way of keeping access to knowledge open for people trying to learn amid the devastation.

It is an attempt to preserve cultural life and memory, while giving a generation of readers, students and researchers a place to continue learning.

Doaa Shaheen is an independent Palestinian journalist from Gaza

Follow her on Instagram: @duaafaez_shaheen