The UN Human Rights High Commissioner said on Tuesday
that this “painstaking” recovery effort raises serious
questions about compliance with international law, and that
war crimes may have been committed.
Volker Türk called
for investigators to be given access to the territory.
Palestinian authorities say thousands of bodies
remain buried under rubble, but Israel is refusing entry to
the heavy machinery needed to clear
it.
“The remains of what appears to be
entire families are now being unearthed at locations that
were pulverized by Israeli attacks,” he
said.
“It is heartbreaking that the loved
ones of those missing for so long are only now having their
worst fears confirmed.”
Possible ‘tip of
the iceberg’
The High Commissioner worried that
remains recovered to date “may only be the tip of the
iceberg” because “much of Gaza has been flattened by
Israeli bombing or demolition and clearing by heavy
machinery and explosives.”
Furthermore, many areas
where Israeli troops are deployed “continue to be
levelled by bulldozers with no respect for the dead under
the rubble.”
He stressed the critical need
to preserve evidence of violations – including at
destroyed sites – given ongoing legal proceedings
regarding the conduct of hostilities in Gaza.
Allow
investigators in
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The rights chief called for
international investigators to be allowed into all parts of
Gaza to help gather evidence and noted that Israel refuses
entry of heavy machinery for removing rubble.
He cited
Palestinian civil defence authorities which reported more
than 630 bodies and other human remains have been recovered
from beneath destroyed buildings across Gaza since November
2025. They also estimated that over 8,000 are
missing under the rubble.
“Every feasible
effort must be taken to document and identify these victims,
preserve forensic information and biological samples, record
their burial locations and inform their families,” he
said.
Recovery compounds suffering
Between 27
June and 27 August, local authorities reported recovering
233 of 407 bodies believed to be beneath 20 destroyed
buildings, mostly in Gaza City. They included 74 children
and 106 women.
This month, teams said they had
recovered 96 bodies and human remains at one site in Az
Zeitoun, a neighbourhood southeast of Gaza City which was
allegedly struck in November 2023.
Most of the remains
were recovered by hand, and among them were 58 children and
23 women.
“These painstaking recovery efforts are a
stark reminder of the gravity and breadth of the destruction
three years ago, compounded today by the prolonged suffering
and misery brought by years of not knowing,” Mr. Türk
said.
“The right of families to know the
fate of their relatives does not end with identification and
a dignified burial. They deserve to know the full
truth.”
War crimes concerns
In a
2024 report,
the High Commissioner’s Office, OHCHR,
highlighted the use by Israel of heavy bombs of up to
2,000lbs from 9 October to 2 December 2023 against
residential buildings, a school, refugee camps and a market,
killing over 200 people.
The report concluded that the
strikes may have violated fundamental principles of
international humanitarian law, which requires warring
parties to abide by the principles of distinction,
proportionality and precautions in attack.
“On a
number of occasions, I have expressed grave concerns that
Israel’s choices of methods and means of conducting
hostilities, including through the extensive use of
explosive weapons with wide area effects in densely
populated areas, failed to ensure that they effectively
distinguish between civilians and fighters,” said Mr.
Türk.
“The discovery of extensive remains under the
rubble in Gaza City resurfaces these concerns of war crimes
and other atrocity
crimes.”
