Palestinian Territory – The large-scale exhumation operations by the Israeli army east of Gaza City, under the pretext of searching for the body of the last Israeli captive in the Gaza Strip, are deeply alarming.
Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor stresses that this pretext does not grant legitimacy to violating the sanctity of the Palestinian dead, tampering with their graves, or desecrating their remains. Any search operations must be strictly limited in scope, subject to stringent humanitarian safeguards, and conducted under neutral international supervision.
Over the past two years, Israel has systematically destroyed cemeteries in the Gaza Strip, dug up and vandalised graves, tampered with bodies, and transferred dozens of remains.
Euro-Med Monitor has reviewed documented reports indicating that the Israeli army dug up nearly 200 graves in a cemetery in the Shuja'iyya neighbourhood near the Yellow Line. The operations are reportedly ongoing, with no independent information or neutral verification as to whether examinations are being conducted on site or whether bodies are being removed or transferred elsewhere. This significantly heightens the risk of serious violations and undermines any claim of necessity or restraint, particularly given Israel's documented pattern of destroying, bulldozing, tampering with, and snatching bodies from cemeteries in Gaza.
The expansion of exhumations in the absence of any Palestinian or neutral international presence, such as the International Committee of the Red Cross, risks exceeding the stated purpose of searching for a specific body and significantly increases the likelihood of violating the sanctity of cemeteries
The expansion of exhumations in the absence of any Palestinian or neutral international presence, such as the International Committee of the Red Cross, risks exceeding the stated purpose of searching for a specific body and significantly increases the likelihood of violating the sanctity of cemeteries and the remains of the dead, including through the transfer or tampering of remains without traceable records.
Such practices not only violate the dignity of the deceased but also inflict severe psychological harm on their families by leaving them in uncertainty about the fate and burial sites of their loved ones, denying them verification or official information, and amounting to cruel treatment and psychological torture of the families of the deceased.
The Israeli army has destroyed 21 out of 60 cemeteries in the Gaza Strip over the past two years and has systematically vandalised cemeteries and exhumed graves in all areas where it conducted ground incursions. These actions included bulldozing graves, extracting remains, and crushing them with military machinery, repeatedly causing the mixing, loss, and disappearance of remains, as well as damage to neighbouring graves.
On 25 December 2024, Euro-Med Monitor received multiple testimonies regarding the Israeli army's bulldozing of the Beit Hanoun Cemetery in northern Gaza. Documented excavations in specific graves included the removal and snatching of recently buried bodies, as well as the mixing of remains to the point that identification became impossible. Between 17 and 20 December 2024, the Israeli army stormed the Sheikh Shaban Cemetery in Gaza City, bulldozed dozens of graves, and ran over the bodies of the dead.
On 20 December 2024, Euro-Med Monitor documented extensive destruction and vandalism by the Israeli army in a cemetery approximately 1.7 kilometres east of central Khan Younis in southern Gaza, including the exhumation of graves across an area of about 2,500 square metres. Earlier that month, the Israeli army stormed the Al-Faluja Cemetery in Jabalia, northern Gaza, causing widespread destruction, including damage to graves and headstones and the confiscation of several bodies.
The attacks also targeted the Ali Ibn Marwan Cemetery, Sheikh Radwan Cemetery, Al Shuhada' Eastern Cemetery, the Tunisian Cemetery, and the Cemetery of St. Porphyrius Church, all located in Gaza City and its northern areas. The central Khan Younis Cemetery in the Austrian neighbourhood was also targeted, destroying dozens of graves, creating large pits that swallowed graves, mixing and disappearing of remains, damaging adjacent graves, and violating the dignity of the dead.
Based on Euro-Med Monitor documentation over recent months, Israel is systematically violating the sanctity of the dead and cemeteries in clear breach of international humanitarian law and the rules of war, which require the protection of cemeteries during armed conflicts, the respectful treatment of the dead, and the preservation of graves, and prohibit their desecration or tampering.
Any Israeli search operations for the body of the last Israeli captive in the Gaza Strip do not justify violating the sanctity of Palestinian dead or exhuming Palestinian graves. The respect for the dignity of the dead is an obligation without discrimination, and tampering with remains or burial sites, or desecrating cemeteries, is prohibited.
International humanitarian law prohibits the snatching of dead bodies and affirms that degrading treatment and attacks on dignity, including that of the dead, constitute a war crime under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
An immediate halt to all grave exhumation and bulldozing operations is required, along with refraining from any unilateral search measures and ensuring that any claimed search operations are subject to strict, written, and public constraints that precisely define their scope with minimal interference. Euro-Med Monitor calls for the presence of a neutral competent body, such as the International Committee of the Red Cross, to thoroughly document every grave opening, including the identification and coordinates of targeted graves, prevent the transfer of any remains outside the Gaza Strip, ensure reburial at the same site without alteration, and rehabilitate damaged cemeteries in a manner that preserves the dignity of the dead and the rights of their families.
Euro-Med Monitor stresses the need for the International Criminal Court and relevant UN investigative mechanisms to fulfil their role in investigating the systematic destruction of Palestinian cemeteries and the snatching of bodies as part of broader files on crimes committed by Israel in the Gaza Strip, to ensure accountability, prevent impunity, and uphold the dignity of the dead.
