16 Cemeteries In Gaza Desecrated By Israeli Forces (Video)
The Israeli military has desecrated at least 16 cemeteries in its ground offensive in Gaza, a CNN investigation has found, leaving gravestones ruined, soil upturned, and, in some cases, bodies unearthed.
In Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, where fighting escalated earlier this week, Israeli forces destroyed a cemetery, removing bodies in what the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) told CNN was part of a search for the remains of hostages seized by Hamas during the October 7 terror attacks.
CNN has reviewed satellite imagery and social media footage showing the destruction of cemeteries and witnessed it firsthand while traveling with the IDF in a convoy. Together the evidence reveals a systemic practice where Israeli ground forces have advanced across the Gaza Strip.
The intentional destruction of religious sites, such as cemeteries, violates international law, except under narrow circumstances relating to that site becoming a military objective, and legal experts told CNN that Israel’s acts could amount to war crimes.
A spokesman for the IDF could not account for the destruction of the 16 cemeteries CNN provided coordinates for, but said the military sometimes has “no other choice” but to target cemeteries it claimed Hamas uses for military purposes.
The IDF said rescuing the hostages and finding and returning their bodies is one of its key missions in Gaza, which is why bodies were removed from some gravesites.
“The hostage identification process, conducted at a secure and alternative location, ensures optimal professional conditions and respect for the deceased,” an IDF spokesperson told CNN, adding that bodies determined not be those of hostages are “returned with dignity and respect.”
But in other cases, the Israeli military appears to have used cemeteries as military outposts. CNN’s analysis of satellite imagery and videos showed that Israeli bulldozers turned multiple cemeteries into staging grounds, leveling large swaths and erecting berms to fortify their positions.
In the Shajaiya neighborhood of Gaza City, Israeli military vehicles could be seen where the cemetery once stood, with berms surrounding them on all sides. The central part of the Shajaiya cemetery was cleared before the war, according to local media reports. But satellite imagery showed other portions were more recently bulldozed, and an IDF presence visible, from December 10.
At the Al Falouja cemetery in the Jabalya neighborhood, north of Gaza City, the Al-Tuffah cemetery, east of Gaza City, and a cemetery in Gaza City’s Sheikh Ijlin neighborhood, destroyed tombstones and heavy tread marks pointed to heavily armored vehicles or tanks driving over graves.
The armored personnel carrier transporting a CNN team last week drove directly through the New Bureij cemetery in Al-Bureij, a Palestinian refugee camp in central Gaza, on its way out of the strip. Graves were visible on either side of the newly-bulldozed dirt road, as seen on a screen inside the vehicle showing a live feed from its front-facing camera. CNN confirmed the location of the cemetery by geolocating its footage from inside Gaza that day and checking against satellite imagery.
Other cemeteries analyzed by CNN in satellite imagery showed little to no signs of destruction, or military fortifications, among them two cemeteries where fallen soldiers from World War I and II, including Christians and some Jews, are buried.
The IDF spokesman did not explain why large swathes of cemeteries had been bulldozed to convert them into military outposts or why military vehicles were parked where graves once stood. “We have a serious obligation to the respect of the dead and there is no policy to create military posts out of graveyards,” the spokesman told CNN.
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