Israel’s removal of Gaza rubble risk to war crimes evidence: UN

United Nations officials are raising concerns that debris removal operations in Gaza may compromise evidence related to alleged war crimes committed during the conflict. Francesca Albanese, the UN's Special Rapporteur on occupied territories, warned that states and companies involved in clearing rubble could face international criminal responsibility if evidence is destroyed in the process. This statement comes two years after the International Court of Justice mandated that Israel take effective steps to preserve evidence connected to genocide allegations under international law.

The scale of the challenge is significant. Palestinian authorities believe more than 8,000 individuals remain buried beneath rubble across Gaza, with families continuing to search for loved ones. In a recent demonstration of the ongoing recovery efforts, Palestinians held funeral services for approximately 100 people on Sunday, including 60 children, whose remains were extracted from destroyed structures in Gaza City. However, progress in recovering additional remains faces substantial obstacles due to restrictions on access to heavy machinery and forensic equipment.

A human rights organization's recent report suggested that the rubble removal could serve purposes beyond reconstruction, potentially constituting demographic engineering and evidence destruction. The head of Gaza's civil defence service indicated that with adequate equipment and resources, the complete recovery operation could be accomplished in roughly 90 days, but without such access, the timeline could extend to several years. The disparity between these scenarios underscores how resource constraints directly impact both humanitarian recovery and the preservation of documentation for potential legal proceedings.