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The UN Human Rights High Commissioner said on Tuesday that this \u201cpainstaking\u201d recovery effort raises serious questions about compliance with international law, and that war crimes may have been committed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Volker T\u00fcrk 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<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe remains of what appears to be entire families are now being unearthed at locations that were pulverized by Israeli attacks,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt is heartbreaking that the loved ones of those missing for so long are only now having their worst fears confirmed<\/strong>.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The High Commissioner worried that remains recovered to date \u201cmay only be the tip of the iceberg\u201d because \u201cmuch of Gaza has been flattened by Israeli bombing or demolition and clearing by heavy machinery and explosives.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Furthermore, many areas where Israeli troops are deployed \u201ccontinue to be levelled by bulldozers with no respect for the dead under the rubble<\/strong>.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n He stressed the critical need to preserve evidence of violations \u2013 including at destroyed sites \u2013 given ongoing legal proceedings regarding the conduct of hostilities in Gaza.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n 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.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n 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.\u00a0They also estimated that over 8,000 are missing under the rubble<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cEvery 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,\u201d he said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n 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.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Most of the remains were recovered by hand, and among them were 58 children and 23 women.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThese 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,\u201d Mr. T\u00fcrk said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe 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<\/strong>.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n In a 2024 report, the High Commissioner\u2019s 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.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n 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.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cOn a number of occasions, I have expressed grave concerns that Israel\u2019s 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,\u201d said Mr. T\u00fcrk.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe discovery of extensive remains under the rubble in Gaza City resurfaces these concerns of war crimes and other atrocity crimes.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\nPossible \u2018tip of the iceberg\u2019<\/strong>\u00a0<\/h2>\n
Allow investigators in<\/strong>\u00a0<\/h2>\n
Recovery compounds suffering<\/strong>\u00a0<\/h2>\n
War crimes concerns<\/strong>\u00a0<\/h2>\n