For the first time, the World Monuments Fund (WMF) has included the moon in its 2025 list of 25 at-risk cultural heritage sites. Also joining that list this year are Gaza, the Swahili Coast, and the Turkish city of Antakya.

The World Monuments Fund list seeks to raise awareness and funds to help preserve the sites it spotlights. Africa's Swahili Coast, Maine's lighthouses and Buddhist grottoes in China are also in peril.

According to the analysis, as much as 70% of buildings in North Gaza and 74% in Gaza City are likely damaged or destroyed. Satellite images show widespread rubble and the ruins of structures in the area.

The Moon has been added to the World Monuments Watch (WMW) list of 25 endangered sites for 2025, alongside Gaza’s cultural heritage and terracotta sculptures in a Portuguese monastery. View on euronew

"The humanitarian situation is catastrophic," said Tommaso Della Longa, a spokesperson for many aid organizations operating in Israel and Gaza.

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Israel has continued to bomb the enclave as it prepares to implement a cease-fire. Civil Defense said Gaza City had the highest toll with more than 80 killed.

Palestinians in Gaza are eager to leave miserable tent camps and return to their homes if a long-awaited cease-fire agreement halts the Israel-Hamas war.

The World Monuments Fund has been publishing its World Monuments Watch every two years since 1996 to build awareness and concern for endangered places. To-date, it’s funded $120 million towards preserving almost 350 sites around the globe.

The preservation organization’s list, the World Monuments Watch, usually sticks to cultural heritage sites within Earth’s bounds. However, with humanity recently ramping up (uncrewed, for now) visits to the Moon, concerns have grown over what that means for the future of the culturally significant marks we’ve left on its surface.

According to the statement, "the Moon is included on the Watch to reflect the urgent need to recognize and preserve the artifacts that testify to humanity’s first steps beyond Earth"