GAZA CITY (Dispatches) -- The bombing of Gaza’s main public library has been decried as a deliberate attempt to destroy thousands of books and historical documents.

Photos of the destroyed building, with books scattered around on the floor, were released by the Municipality of Gaza.

The library was in regular use by members of the community, including schoolchildren, before the start of the war on October 7. 

Video footage shared by Storyful, an intelligence agency and open source intelligence and verification platform, showed the destroyed building and the collapsed bookshelves inside. 

“The targeted destruction of Gaza’s primary public library is a stark reminder that genocide is about more than just the premeditated mass extinguishing of human life; it’s also about the calculated, and often vindictive, destruction of a people’s culture, language, history, and shared sites of community,” Literary Hub said in a statement.