Saint Hilarion Monastery/ Tell Umm Amer

Among the coastal dunes of the Gaza Strip lie the ruins of one of the Middle East's earliest monasteries, begun in the 4th century when Saint Hilarion gathered hermits into what became the Holy Land's first monastic community. From these beginnings coenobitic life spread through the region, and the monastery itself — set where trade routes linked Asia and Africa — grew into a Byzantine hub of faith, culture and commerce. UNESCO inscribed Tell Umm Amer in 2024.