Al Deira Hotel

Al Deira Hotel
فندق الديرة
Al Deira hotel, 2009
Location within Gaza City
General information
StatusDestroyed
LocationGaza, Palestine
Coordinates31°31′39.0″N 34°26′14.1″E / 31.527500°N 34.437250°E / 31.527500; 34.437250
OpeningMay 2000
DestroyedNovember 2023
OwnerAlhouseini Family
Technical details
Floor count2
Design and construction
ArchitectRashid Abdelhamid
Other information
Number of rooms22

The Al Deira Hotel (Arabic: فندق الديرة, romanized: Funduq ad-Dayra) was a beach hotel located on Al-Rashid Street in Gaza, Palestine.[1][2] It was built in 2000 and was known for its high, domed ceilings and views of the Mediterranean.[2] Al Deira was regularly used by foreign journalists covering Gaza.[3] It was destroyed by the Israeli military in November 2023, during the Gaza war.

Description

Al Deira was a boutique hotel with 22 rooms and built around an inner courtyard.[2][4][5] Its architecture was said to have an "Ottoman elegance".[2] The style blended traditional Moroccan and Islamic architecture with modern design influences. It was built with dark brown sun-dried adobe bricks and featured white arches, vaulted and domed ceilings, and handmade furniture, including wicker furniture.[3][6] The architect was Rashid Abdelhamid.[7]

It had a generator on the property and 5,000 liters of fuel in storage, which kept it open through frequent blackouts due to the war with the Israeli military.[8][9][10] For many years, it was considered a "no-hit zone" for the Israeli military, partly due to the presence of foreign journalists, diplomats, and aid workers who were staying at the hotel.[11]

History

The hotel opened in May 2000, not long after the Oslo Accords were signed and a few months before the start of the Second Intifada.[8][10] It was previously owned by UNDP employee Khaled Abdel Shafi and architect Rashid Abdelhamid. In 2015, new management took over.[7] Samir Skaik became the general manager of the hotel in 2002 and remained in the position until at least 2010.[10]

In 2010, UN Goodwill Ambassadors Mia Farrow and Mahmoud Kabil visited the hotel.[12] Desmond Tutu and Richard Goldstone also visited in 2010.[10]

Al Deira stopped offering alcohol in the mid-2000s, after some protest from the local community.[10]

On July 16, 2014, four children were killed by Israeli rockets whilst playing football on the beach just outside Al Deira Hotel.[13][14] Staff from the hotel brought wounded to the restaurant. Several foreign journalists were staying at the hotel and witnessed the killings.[15][16][17][18][19][20] Some journalists who were staying in the hotel helped bring several injured children to the hotel so they could receive care.[21][22] The following day, all of the journalists had to evacuate the hotel when they received a 30-minute evacuation order from the Israeli military.[23]

Gaza war

In late 2023 and early 2024, during the Gaza war, the Al Deira Hotel was bombed and destroyed by Israeli forces.[4][24][25] Two months later, musician Saint Levant, who is the son of the hotel's architect and former owner, paid homage to the venue in his single "Deira" (featuring MC Abdul), contained in the eponymous debut album Deira released the following June.[26][27][28]

Reception and impact

The hotel received multiple positive reviews in Time magazine,[2] by British journalist Alan Johnston,[29] and by Lonely Planet, which described the Al Deira as "swish, stylish and tightly run", and "without question the best hotel in town".[7]

Phoebe Greenwood's 2025 novel Vulture is largely set in a Gaza City hotel called The Beach. Joshua Hammer, who stayed at Al Deira in the 2000s, called The Beach "an unmistakable stand-in for Al Deira."[30] Greenwood said that it was a "reimagined" version of Al Deira, and has said she stayed at Al Deira multiple times to report on Gaza, including during Operation Pillar of Defence.[25][31][32]

  • Courtyard, 2011
  • Lobby, 2011
  • Interior with table, chandelier, and curtains; 2011
  • Interior, 2011
  • View of the sea from the hotel, 2009
  • View of the Gaza shoreline with Al Deira on the left, 2009

See also

References

  1. ^ Gaviria, Marcela (9 May 2006). "Blood Is for Blood". PBS. Archived from the original on 10 April 2016. Retrieved 29 December 2025.
  2. ^ a b c d e McGirk, Tim (1 July 2009). "The Gaza Strip's Diamond in the Rough". Time. Archived from the original on 12 July 2010. Retrieved 5 July 2010.
  3. ^ a b Dziadosz, Alex (5 February 2009). "What Is There To Laugh About in Gaza?". Slate. ISSN 1091-2339. Retrieved 17 January 2026.
  4. ^ a b Al-Waheidi, Majd (26 December 2024). "A loverboy and a Palestinian: Saint Levant's new album is about loss and growth". NPR. Retrieved 15 January 2026.
  5. ^ Nissenbaum, Dion (28 May 2009). "Hamas turns to mud to fight Israel's economic blockade". Tri-City Herald. Archived from the original on 12 November 2019. Retrieved 14 January 2026.
  6. ^ Laylin, Tafline (7 October 2023) [Originally published on 28 December 2012]. "Gaza's 5-Star Al Deira Hotel built with adobe bricks". Green Prophet. Retrieved 12 January 2026.
  7. ^ a b c Lonely Planet Israel and the Palestinian Territories, Michael Kohn, Lonely Planet, 2007, p. 362.
  8. ^ a b "A Taste of Luxury in a War Zone". ABC News. 20 June 2008. Retrieved 12 January 2026.
  9. ^ Lejeune, Martin (2 August 2014). "Emergency call from Gaza". Mondoweiss. Retrieved 15 January 2026.
  10. ^ a b c d e Buck, Tobias (26 October 2010). "Keeping the doors open in Gaza". Financial Times. Retrieved 14 January 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  11. ^ "Gaza Braces for Next War, But Last One Hasn't Really Ended". The Forward. 8 June 2015. Retrieved 15 January 2026.
  12. ^ "UN Goodwill Ambassadors at Al Deira Hotel". Aldeira. Archived from the original on 14 May 2013.
  13. ^ Booth, William (17 July 2014). "Israeli strike kills four children on a Gaza beach". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 12 January 2026.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  14. ^ Sengupta, Kim (16 July 2014). "Four children killed as Israeli bombardment escalates". The Independent. Retrieved 12 January 2026.
  15. ^ Barnard, Ann (16 July 2014). "Boys Drawn to Gaza Beach, and Into Center of Mideast Strife". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 January 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  16. ^ Hicks, Tyler (16 July 2014). "Through Lens, 4 Boys Dead by Gaza Shore". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 January 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  17. ^ Mackey, Robert (16 July 2014). "Witness Accounts of Gaza Attack That Killed 4 Boys". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 January 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  18. ^ Salem, Mohammed (16 July 2014). "Palestinians Mourn Four Children Killed on Gaza Beach". NBC News. Retrieved 12 January 2026.
  19. ^ Taylor, Adam (17 July 2014). "What happened when Palestinian children were killed in front of a hotel full of journalists". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 12 January 2026.
  20. ^ Beaumont, Peter (16 July 2014). "Witness to a shelling: first-hand account of deadly strike on Gaza port". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 12 January 2026.
  21. ^ "Israeli army agrees to 'humanitarian' pause". MPR News. 16 July 2014. Retrieved 17 January 2026.
  22. ^ Beaumont, Peter (17 July 2014). "Mortars fired from Gaza during ceasefire between Israel and Hamas". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 17 January 2026.
  23. ^ Meija, Paula (17 July 2014). "Foreign Journalists Ordered to Evacuate Beach Hotels in Gaza". Newsweek. Retrieved 12 January 2026.
  24. ^ "Destruction of the Palestinian cultural heritage of Gaza – in pictures". The Guardian. 11 January 2024. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 5 March 2024. Retrieved 22 April 2024.
  25. ^ a b Greenwood, Phoebe (8 July 2025). "The Gaza I knew survives only as stories". Hyphen. Retrieved 13 January 2026.
  26. ^ Aswad, Jem (23 February 2024). "Palestinian-Algerian Rapper Saint Levant Drops 'Deira' Single With MC Abdul, Paying Tribute to Gaza". Variety. Retrieved 11 March 2024.
  27. ^ Bain, Katie (24 February 2024). "Saint Levant & Gazan Rapper MC Abdul Celebrate the Culture of Palestine in 'Deira' Video". Billboard. Retrieved 11 March 2024.
  28. ^ Craft, Chloe (8 January 2025). "Review: Saint Levant takes audiences on a multilingual journey from Boston to Gaza through his 'Deira' tour". The Huntington News. Retrieved 13 January 2026.
  29. ^ Johnston, Alan (17 November 2007). "Given time, I may feel stronger for what I went through". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 12 January 2026.
  30. ^ Hammer, Joshua (25 August 2025). "In This Novel, Chasing a Scoop Leads to Bad News in a War Zone". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 3 November 2025. Retrieved 13 January 2026.
  31. ^ Greenwood, Phoebe (14 December 2023). "Gaza revisited". Perspective Media. Retrieved 15 January 2026.
  32. ^ Greenwood, Phoebe (10 August 2025). "My years reporting on Gaza broke me down. Why did it take so long for the world to become outraged?". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 13 January 2026.
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