UN warns Israel's Gaza rubble clearance
A UN expert says Israel's removal of millions of tonnes of Gaza rubble, including from cemeteries, risks destroying evidence of war crimes and could incur
Israel's ongoing clearance of rubble in the Gaza Strip could systematically destroy evidence of war crimes, the United Nations has warned. States and companies involved in the removal "could incur international criminal responsibility" for destroying evidence of crimes committed during the war, said UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied territories Francesca Albanese on Monday.
It has been two years since the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered Israel to take effective measures to prevent the destruction of evidence relating to allegations under the Genocide Convention. Albanese, a consistent critic of Israel, stated that conditioning Gaza's reconstruction on the erasure of its past and the required evidence for justice is unacceptable.
Scale and Nature of Rubble Clearance
The Israeli military conducted a massive operation in August to crush, mix, and transport millions of tonnes of rubble from numerous sites. These locations included known burial grounds and other areas containing human remains. Palestinian authorities estimate that more than 8,000 people remain buried under the debris, with many families still searching for loved ones.
Israel continues to block the entry of heavy machinery and forensic supplies needed for proper recovery operations. The head of Gaza’s civil defence service, Raed al-Dahshan, told Al Jazeera that with adequate equipment, recovering remains could be completed in about 90 days. Without it, the process could take years.
Link to Broader Allegations
A report last month by the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor suggested the debris removal could be an attempt at demographic engineering and erasing evidence of genocide. The UN rapporteur's statement aligns with this concern, framing the clearance as a direct threat to accountability.
On Sunday, Palestinians in northern Gaza held funeral ceremonies for about 100 people recovered from rubble in Gaza City. The recovered remains included 60 children.
The Legal Stakes and Accountability
Francesca Albanese's warning places legal responsibility not only on Israel but also on any state or private entity assisting in the rubble clearance. The act of destroying potential evidence could itself be a violation of international law, separate from the underlying allegations of war crimes.
The 2024 ICJ order mandated Israel to prevent evidence destruction. The current large-scale removal operation, occurring two years later, directly challenges that injunction. The situation creates a stark conflict between urgent reconstruction needs and the imperative for judicial investigation.
Families in Gaza continue to search through ruins by hand. The systematic crushing and mixing of rubble from sites of mass casualties makes future forensic identification nearly impossible. This physical erasure compounds the legal and humanitarian crisis outlined by UN officials.
