Gaza strip: The Palestinian group Hamas warned Monday that Israel was attempting to conceal evidence of genocide committed against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip by removing, crushing and transporting rubble under which the bodies of thousands of missing people are believed to remain.
According to Anadolu Agency, Hamas issued a statement expressing concern over "attempts by the occupation government and its army to conceal evidence of the brutal crimes committed against our people in the Gaza Strip through the removal, crushing and transportation of rubble." The group claims these activities are occurring despite the presence beneath the debris of "the bodies of thousands of missing people and material evidence of the crimes of genocide committed by the occupation over two years."
Hamas emphasized that tampering with sites containing bodies and potential evidence "constitutes a violation of international law and the International Court of Justice's order to preserve evidence." The organization also stated that such actions amount to "an assault on the dignity of the martyrs and the right of their families to recover and bury the bodies of their loved ones."
The group welcomed a warning by Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories, regarding the risk of erasing traces of "atrocity crimes" in the Gaza Strip due to Israel's activities of rubble removal, crushing, and transportation.
Hamas called on the UN, the International Criminal Court, and other relevant bodies to "take urgent action to protect these sites." They also demanded that international investigative teams and forensic experts be allowed into Gaza to oversee the recovery of bodies and the documentation and preservation of evidence.
The organization stressed the importance of accelerating rubble removal and reconstruction in Gaza as "an urgent humanitarian and national necessity and an inherent right of our people." They stated that the process must be conducted "in a manner that ensures the recovery of the bodies of missing people and the preservation of evidence while preventing the occupation from exploiting these operations to conceal evidence of its crimes and evade accountability."
On August 3, the Geneva-based Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor raised alarms over Israeli operations to crush and remove debris from destroyed buildings in areas under its military control in Gaza, involving Israeli civilian companies. The rights group estimated that at least 10 million tons of rubble had been displaced from its original locations in areas under Israeli military control, covering around 66% of the enclave.
The organization documented about 100 Israeli trucks transporting rubble out of Gaza daily in the weeks preceding its statement, with approximately 400 demolition, crushing, and transport vehicles operating in eastern and southern parts of the enclave.
Israel waged a two-year war on the Gaza Strip that, according to Palestinian figures, resulted in more than 73,000 Palestinian deaths and over 174,000 injuries. Over 9,000 people remain missing, and widespread destruction has devastated civilian infrastructure across the enclave.