Many historical sites in the Gaza Strip have become ruins after suffering devastating Israeli attacks over the past year since the outbreak of the latest round of conflict between Palestine and Israel.
The Great Mosque of Gaza, also known as the Al-Omari Grand Mosque, the largest and the oldest mosque in the Gaza Strip, was extensively destroyed in Israeli attacks late 2023.
Founded more than 1,400 years ago with an area of about 4,100 square meters, the Omari Mosque was an important historical monument in Gaza City and renowned in the Middle East, but now only its ruins remain.
Tareq Haniyeh grew up in Gaza City and often took tourists to visit the mosque before the conflict escalation when he worked as a tour guide. He's feeling quite upset about the ruined historic building.
"During World War I, the mosque was bombed by British naval ships, and it suffered the same fate after more than a century. [Israeli warships] blew it up from the sea. Every time I look up and see the ruins, I can't control my emotions, and sometimes I even cried. Some young people didn't quite understand and would come to ask what happened. Really, you can't imagine what this place means to my life," said Haniyeh.
The Omari Mosque is not the only ancient monument that has suffered devastating disasters. According to statistics from relevant Palestinian authorities, more than 280 buildings in the old town of Gaza City are over 100 years old, of which more than 100 are over 500 years old.
Over the past year, the prolonged conflict has caused huge damage to them, and some buildings even have no trace of their original appearance. Now local people can only recall the appearance of these historical buildings and their previous life through photos.
"It's not just us in Gaza City, but all of the people in the Gaza Strip are filled with sadness, because all the historical monuments in Gaza have been ruined, including the Gold Market, the Al-Omari Grand Mosque, the Hamam Al-Samra, the Pasha's Palace and the cathedral. None of them in Gaza City survived. People used to come here to visit the monuments. In the past, these places were crowded with people during holidays, and people held various events there, but now, we can only recall those scenes and see what they used to look like through photos on our phones," said Mahmoud Aral, another resident in Gaza City.
Numerous historical sites ruined by Israeli attacks in Gaza Strip
Numerous historical sites ruined by Israeli attacks in Gaza Strip
Numerous historical sites ruined by Israeli attacks in Gaza Strip
The recently-approved action plan for stabilizing foreign investment has attracted a new wave of foreign-funded projects across China.
Formulated to ensure stable foreign investment in 2025, the action plan was approved by a State Council executive meeting last month.
Under the plan, China will support pilot regions in effectively implementing opening-up policies related to such areas as value-added telecommunications, biotechnology and wholly foreign-owned hospitals, providing whole-journey services for foreign-invested projects in these sectors.
In a foreign-funded intelligent manufacturing factory in Suzhou of east China's Jiangsu Province, engineers are making final adjustments to a vehicle-mounted display production line with an annual production capacity of 650,000 units, which is expected to contribute an annual increase in output value of 1.3 billion yuan (about 179.5 million U.S. dollars).
"In addition to the new production line, we will invest an additional 50 million yuan (about 6.9 million U.S. dollars) or so to upgrade the old production line this year, which can also realize automated and digitized production," said Ge Fengchen, general manager of Harman Suzhou branch.
In a smart factory of a foreign-funded elevator production company in Guangzhou City of south China's Guangdong Province, two intelligent production lines have just been put into use.
In addition to the Guangzhou factory, this intelligent production line is also scheduled to be put into use in its factories in Shanghai, Tianjin and Chengdu.
"This production line integrates a central control system, a joint control system, and an automatic positioning system. While using the (digital) twin technology on the management platform and automated inspection of the entire process, the production line is able to predict and prevent possible failures," said Jia Yuhui, president of Hitachi Elevator (China) Co., Ltd.
In January alone, a total of 4,229 foreign-invested enterprises were newly established nationwide with 97.59 billion yuan of paid-in foreign investment, increasing by 27.5 percent from December last year, according to the latest data released by the Ministry of Commerce.
"In recent years, the utilized foreign investment in the park has maintained a high growth, and a number of high-quality projects have been launched. The paid-in foreign investment in the first quarter of this year is expected to reach 1 billion U.S. dollars, maintaining growth momentum," said Liu Hua, vice chairman of the Suzhou Industrial Park Administrative Committee.
China's favorable policy attracts new wave of foreign-funded projects
