Re:What Happened to Gaza’s Apollo Statue? (2014)
by ramzyo on Thursday August 31, 2017 @12:43PM
(#15141584)
The article addresses this as well.
"Experts, including Alotol, have questioned Jawdat's story, arguing that the colour and apparent excellent condition of the statue contradict the story that it was found in the sea. They speculate it was discovered inland, under the ground, and that the real story has been stifled either to avoid arguments of ownership or to avoid revealing that it was found while digging tunnels to nearby Egypt."
It's also unlikely that a bronze statue would survive submerged for 2000+ years (the Kingdom of Israel was conquered by the Greeks circa 400 BCE, but the Philistines were there earlier and as the Philistines were Hellenic people this would match it as well), or at least be in such good shape.
Some other reports suggested that it was either a hoax, or more likely that the statue was smuggled from Syria rather than discovered off the coast of Gaza.
If it was indeed discovered in Gaza then it's likely been smuggled out and sold on the black market.