UN expert warns Gaza rubble removal could erase evidence of atrocity crimes

Gaza’s rubble contains more than the remains of destroyed buildings, UN expert Francesca Albanese said. It may also contain evidence needed to investigate alleged atrocity crimes, and removing it could make that evidence disappear.

Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur on the Palestinian territories, warned Monday that Israel’s “ongoing removal, crushing and relocation of rubble in Gaza” had “profound” implications. She said credible information from multiple sources indicated that rubble had been deliberately and widely removed, crushed and transported in parts of the territory under Israeli control.

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Gaza’s rubble contains human remains and physical evidence relevant to the investigation of alleged international crimes, including genocide.

“Gaza’s rubble contains human remains and physical evidence relevant to the investigation of alleged international crimes, including genocide,” Albanese said. She pointed to estimates from Palestinian authorities that more than 10,000 people remain buried beneath the debris. She also stressed that the possibility of recovering human remains was not theoretical.

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Rubble is not just construction waste. It is part of a crime scene, a graveyard, and the material record of what happened during a brutal and senseless bombing campaign that lasted two years.

Last month, the remains of 112 members of one extended civilian family were recovered from beneath buildings destroyed in Gaza City in November 2023. Albanese said the remains of 41 other people killed in the same strike had never been found. “Rubble is not just construction waste,” she said. “It is part of a crime scene, a graveyard, and the material record of what happened during a brutal and senseless bombing campaign that lasted two years.”

Albanese called for the recovery and dignified identification of human remains, systematic documentation of sites and materials, preservation of potentially relevant evidence, and an unbroken chain of custody under independent oversight before displacement or rubble crushing takes place. She also called for international criminal investigators to be involved. Israel and some of its allies have sharply criticized her long-standing accusations against Israel, while her statement noted that she does not speak on behalf of the United Nations.

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It is vital that before decisions are made on displacement or crushing by the occupying army or its allies, the recovery and dignified identification of human remains, systematic documentation of sites and materials, preservation of potentially relevant evidence, and an unbroken chain of custody under independent oversight must take place.