Occupied Palestinian Territory – Israel continues, in a deliberate and institutionalised manner, to implement a systematic policy aimed at erasing physical evidence of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity committed over the past two years in the Gaza Strip. This policy is carried out through a series of field and administrative measures, including the prevention of international journalists and independent investigation committees from entering Gaza, in an attempt to obstruct any criminal investigation or field documentation that could establish the truth and confirm Israel's legal responsibility.
The recent decision by the Israeli Supreme Court granting the government an additional delay regarding the entry of independent journalists into Gaza reflects the institutional complicity within the Israeli state apparatus in concealing crimes and protecting their perpetrators. The judiciary thus provides a legal cover for government policies designed to suppress transparency and erase field evidence of crimes committed in Gaza.
The continued prevention of international journalists and investigators from entering Gaza forms part of a consistent and coordinated policy exercised by Israeli authorities through their executive, security, and judicial arms to keep the crimes beyond international scrutiny and obstruct any independent accountability or investigation into the grave violations committed.
The ongoing ban on independent journalists entering Gaza represents a long-standing Israeli policy since the beginning of the military assault on the Strip. It aims to deprive the world of witnessing the reality on the ground by imposing a complete media blackout and preventing all documentation and international monitoring tools from accessing the crime scenes.
Despite the enforcement of the ceasefire agreement on 11 October, Israel continues to deny entry to international journalists, except for limited tours organised under the supervision and escort of the Israeli army. As a result, all scenes shown from the field remain under military censorship and devoid of the independent coverage guaranteed by international standards of press freedom.
The killing of 254 Palestinian journalists and the ban on the entry of international media workers exemplify an integrated Israeli policy aimed at concealing the truth and monopolising the narrative by maintaining tight control over the media scene and preventing any independent oversight or field documentation. This policy not only withholds information but also strips victims of their right to tell their story to the world, turning their tragedy into a one-sided account narrated by the very perpetrator of the crime.
Israel's actions to erase evidence of genocide include continuing to prevent the entry of the UN-mandated Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the investigation team of the International Criminal Court, as well as fact-finding missions and other international mechanisms specialised in investigating grave crimes. This deliberate obstruction of international justice constitutes a violation of Israel's obligations under international humanitarian law.
Israeli authorities also block the entry of forensic teams and forensic anthropology experts who should secure crime scenes, examine human remains, and document biological and physical evidence proving mass killings, genocide, and the use of prohibited weapons and projectiles. This obstruction undermines a fundamental pillar of international criminal investigation, aiming to destroy material evidence before examination, deny victims and their families the ability to identify their loved ones, and prevent the international community from verifying the nature and scale of the crimes committed.
Israel further refuses to allow the entry of essential equipment and materials needed for exhuming bodies and identifying victims, including laboratory tools, autopsy instruments, and DNA analysis kits. This has left hundreds of bodies unidentified and deprived families of their basic human right to know the fate of their loved ones and bid them farewell with dignity.
Among these are around 195 bodies that Israel handed over without any details about their identities or circumstances of death, many of which showed clear signs of torture and summary execution. These findings indicate extrajudicial killings and inhumane treatment of Palestinian detainees and prisoners, including those subjected to enforced disappearance.
The continued retention of bodies and prevention of independent investigations constitute an additional form of collective punishment against Palestinian families, denying victims their basic human right to be identified and buried with dignity.
Israel has also carried out the total erasure of several cities, towns, villages, camps, and residential blocks where horrific mass killings occurred. Satellite images and field testimonies documented show that Israeli forces removed the surface layers of the ground, levelled targeted areas, destroyed rubble, and transferred it to unknown locations, effectively erasing potential physical evidence such as munitions remnants, bodies, original patterns of destruction, and explosion traces.
Israel continues to exercise full, unlawful military control over roughly 50 per cent of the Gaza Strip, reshaping the geography entirely through demolitions, bombardments, and bulldozing, and establishing new military routes and bases atop the ruins of destroyed buildings and farmland. This goes beyond military occupation, amounting to an engineered redesign of the field landscape to erase material evidence and prevent future verification of the crimes committed.
Israeli military deployment in these areas, coupled with the targeting of anyone approaching what it calls the "yellow line", effectively isolates half of the Strip and turns it into a no-go zone, blocking journalists, researchers, and humanitarian teams from entering and preventing any genuine field documentation of the mass killings and widespread destruction that took place there.
Such acts constitute a flagrant violation of fundamental principles of international humanitarian law, which obligate parties to a conflict to preserve crime scenes until independent investigations are completed and to ensure that evidence is not tampered with. They also contravene the International Court of Justice's ruling obligating Israel to take all necessary measures to prevent genocide, including preserving evidence and preventing its destruction.
Israel continues to withhold hundreds, possibly thousands, of bodies, including those of Palestinian prisoners and detainees killed under unclear circumstances, preventing autopsies and forensic examinations that could verify causes of death. This is a blatant violation of Article 130 of the Third Geneva Convention, which obliges occupying powers to respect the remains of the deceased and return them to their families without delay.
Denying victims justice and preventing the world from knowing the truth are not merely additional violations but an extension of the crime of genocide itself. Through these actions, Israel seeks to erase the traces of its crimes, obliterate collective memory, and strip Palestinians of their right to narrate their story and existence, attempting to eliminate both the victim and the evidence of their existence.
The international community and relevant United Nations bodies must ensure the immediate entry of international journalists and correspondents into the Gaza Strip and enable them to work freely and independently, without military oversight or escort. This is essential to guarantee transparency, expose the truth about the crimes committed, and allow urgent international access for forensic experts and specialists in forensic anthropology and explosives to secure crime scenes and collect physical and biological evidence before it is lost or tampered with.
Reconstruction and debris removal in areas where massacres occurred must be carried out with full consideration of evidence preservation and documentation, as any reconstruction effort that fails to do so will effectively serve as a tool to erase the truth and destroy the forensic memory of the crimes committed.
The international community and UN agencies are urged to support the establishment of a specialised framework for managing Gaza's debris that links reconstruction and dismantling processes to the preservation and documentation of evidence—making adherence to this framework a prerequisite for any construction or debris removal activity.
There is also an urgent need to disclose the lists of the forcibly disappeared, missing persons, and bodies, reveal burial locations, return remains to their families, and allow international and UN mechanisms to conduct independent investigations into the crimes committed. Perpetrators must be brought to justice before international courts to ensure accountability, compensation, and redress for victims and their families.
The UN Human Rights Council should act swiftly to activate and reinforce existing monitoring and investigation mechanisms, enabling them full access to the Gaza Strip to protect crime scenes and ensure that evidence is not destroyed or altered. These mechanisms must be provided with the necessary technical and logistical support to operate independently and effectively.
The International Criminal Court must expand its ongoing investigation into the situation in Palestine to include the ongoing genocide and the systematic erasure of evidence, and take practical measures to protect crime scenes and related evidence. This includes establishing a dedicated field office for Palestine, similar to the one created for Ukraine, to coordinate on-site investigations, collect forensic evidence, and ensure continuous international oversight over the investigation process.
Any delay in such intervention will grant Israel more time to complete the destruction of evidence and the physical traces of its crimes, undermining the international community's duty to protect truth and uphold justice. Saving the truth in Gaza is no longer merely a moral obligation, but a legal and humanitarian imperative that cannot be delayed.
