Quick facts

The name

The bathhouse is called "Hammam al-Samara" after the Samaritans (al-Samara), the ancient Palestinian community, some of whom lived in Gaza; according to the Palestinian Ministry of Culture, they were the first to work in and run it for a time.

Location

The bathhouse stands in the al-Zaytoun quarter in the heart of the old city of Gaza, near Omar al-Mukhtar Street, close to the Great Omari Mosque, the Church of St. Porphyrius, Qasr al-Basha and the Qaysariyya market, in the historic fabric that holds the city's oldest landmarks. Its entrance lies somewhat below the level of the surrounding buildings and is reached by steps.

History

Estimates of the bathhouse's age vary: those who ran it estimated that it was built and restored about 865 years ago, while the Palestinian Ministry of Culture describes it as nearly a thousand years old. Sources record that it was renovated and restored in the Mamluk period by Emir Sanjar ibn Abdullah al-Mu'ayyadi, and it continued to operate through the Ottoman period, so that it was considered the last bathhouse of that era in the region. While Gaza's other historic bathhouses disappeared, Hammam al-Samara kept working until 2023, making it the city's second-oldest landmark after the Great Omari Mosque and the only surviving historic bathhouse in the Gaza Strip.

Architecture and sections

The bathhouse covered about 500 square metres and was built of marble stone to resist the damp, with floors that stayed warm all day thanks to the heating system beneath them. The temperature rose from room to room, from cool to warm to hot, in the style of Levantine bathhouses:

• Entrance: below street level, leading down steps to the main hall.
• Main hall (al-barrani): centred on an octagonal fountain and crowned by a dome pierced with coloured-glass openings that let in sunlight, surrounded by benches for sitting and resting.
• Passages and iwans: linking the hall to changing iwans, the warm-water plunge pool and the steam room.
• Furnace: reached by a staircase overlooking the domes, where wood was stacked as fuel to heat the water.

The bathhouse in Gaza's life

Hammam al-Samara was part of Gaza's social life: its people came to bathe, relax and seek healing through hot water and steam, wedding rituals such as the groom's bath were held there, and tourists and foreign delegations visited it. Under the blockade imposed on the Strip since 2007, with its power and water cuts, the bathhouse became a breathing space and a vital refuge for Gaza's people, and a living witness to the city's ancient heritage.

Destruction in the genocidal war

During the genocidal war on Gaza, Israeli occupation aircraft bombed Hammam al-Samara. On 30 December 2023 the Palestinian Ministry of Culture announced that "Israeli occupation aircraft bombed Hammam al-Samara in central Gaza City and destroyed it completely", turning the bathhouse that had stood for centuries into rubble. The Israeli military issued no comment on the strike. Its destruction was part of a broad assault on Gaza's heritage that included the Great Omari Mosque, the Church of St. Porphyrius, Qasr al-Basha, Beit al-Saqqa and the Sayyid Hashim Mosque; Israel destroyed more than 200 archaeological sites in the Strip during the war.

The bathhouse today (2026)

Nothing remains of Hammam al-Samara but rubble and ruins in the heart of Gaza's devastated old city. Palestinians and cultural institutions call for what remains to be documented, for the occupation to be held accountable for destroying cultural heritage protected by the 1954 Hague Convention, and for the bathhouse and Gaza's historic landmarks to be rebuilt as part of the Strip's reconstruction.

Frequently asked questions

Conclusion

For nearly a thousand years the steam of Hammam al-Samara rose beneath its coloured dome in al-Zaytoun, carrying the memory of generations of Gaza's people. In a single moment of the genocidal war it was reduced to rubble, but it lives on in Gazans' memory as a witness to an ancient city whose history some seek to erase, and to its people's determination to rebuild it.