Qasr Al Basha is an old fortress located on Al Wehda Street in Gaza City. It is not known when Qasr Al Basha was first constructed, but the style of the entrance, along with the construction of the interior, suggest that it was during the Mamluk period. A local legend states that it was built by the 13^th century Mamluk Sultan Baybars for a Gazan woman that he met, fell in love with, and married. The sides of the fortress are a more recent construction and date back to the 17^th century, when the Ottoman Governor (Pasha) of Gaza, Sheikh Radwan, lived there. This is where the fortress draws its name Qasr Al Basha, or as it is also known Qasr Al Radwan. The palace is also sometimes referred to as the Napoleonic Fort, because it is believed that Napoleon spent a few nights here prior to his military offences against Jaffa and Akka.

More recently, the fortress served as a police headquarters during the British Mandate and was then turned into a girl’s school under the Egyptians. Recently the UNDP, with funding from the German Development Bank and under the supervision of the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, constructed a new building to house the girl’s school and the fortress has been carefully renovated to serve as the national museum of Gaza.