Photos released by authorities showed two sculptures that had been knocked off of pedestals and broken into pieces in the museum’s archaeology wing.
The pieces were the head of Athena from the 2nd century CE discovered in 1978 in Tel Naharon near Beit She’an, and a statue of a griffin holding a wheel of fate representing the Roman god Nemesis dated to 210-211 CE and discovered in 1957 in the northern Negev.
The statues are now being examined by conservation professionals at the museum to assess the damage and potential for restoration.
Israel Antiquities Authority Director-General Eli Escusido called the act “the horrifying destruction of cultural assets” and said the IAA would seek to prevent recurrences.