"In Gaza, Hamas levels an ancient Canaanite archaeological treasure/

Much of the 4,500-year-old Bronze Age city known as Tel Es-Sakan is being bulldozed to make way for construction projects and military bases (Fares Akram, "In Gaza, Hamas levels an ancient Canaanite archaeological treasure/" Times of Israel  October 6, 2017),

Palestinian and French archaeologists began excavating Gaza’s earliest archaeological site nearly 20 years ago, unearthing what they believe is a rare 4,500-year-old Bronze Age settlement. But over protests that grew recently, Gaza’s Hamas rulers have systematically destroyed the work since seizing power a decade ago, allowing the flattening of this hill on the southern tip of Gaza City to make way for construction projects, and later military bases. There is a clear destruction of a very important archaeological site,” said Palestinian archaeology and history professor Mouin Sadeq, who led three excavations at the site along with French archaeologist Pierre de Miroschedji after its accidental discovery in 1998. “I don’t know why the destruction of the site was approved.”

It is among the earliest sites indicating the emergence of the “urban society” concept in the Near East, when communities were transforming from farming villages around 4,000 BC, and it was on trade routes between Egypt and the Levant, The area “was the first city of Palestine to have a city wall,”