UNITED NATIONS: A United Nations expert on Monday said that large-scale removal of rubble from areas of Gaza under Israeli control could risk destroying evidence of atrocity crimes and hinder efforts to recover and identify human remains.
Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories, said the implications of Israel’s “ongoing removal, crushing and relocation of rubble in Gaza” were “profound”.
She cautioned that the extensive handling and relocation of debris could compromise potential evidence needed to investigate alleged violations and account for those who remain missing.
“Gaza’s rubble contains human remains and physical evidence relevant to the investigation of alleged international crimes, including genocide,” she said, pointing to estimates from Palestinian authorities that more than 10,000 people remain buried under the debris in the war-ravaged Palestinian enclave.
Independent human rights expert @FranceskAlbs:
“The ongoing removal, crushing and relocation of rubble in #Gaza must not destroy evidence of international crimes or prevent the recovery and identification of human remains.
Destroying evidence of atrocity crimes is illegal.” pic.twitter.com/Fw4pRHRr7o
— United Nations Geneva (@UNGeneva) September 7, 2026
The independent expert has faced strong criticism from Israel and some of its allies over her longstanding allegations that Israel has committed genocide and other war crimes against Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
Albanese, who was appointed by the UN Human Rights Council in 2022, said she received credible information from multiple sources last month indicating the “deliberate and widespread removal, crushing and transport of rubble”.
In the devastated and Israeli-occupied Palestinian territory, Albanese stressed that rubble should not be regarded simply as construction waste, warning that it could contain evidence of alleged crimes as well as the remains of people killed during the conflict.
“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.”
Israel’s full-scale military offensive in Gaza, launched on 7 October 2023, has left large parts of the Palestinian territory in ruins.
Israel kills more than 73,000 Palestinians in Gaza
According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, more than 73,000 Palestinians have been killed in the conflict, including more than 1,330 since a ceasefire agreed last October. Children account for a significant proportion of those killed.
Albanese said on Monday that the possibility of recovering human remains from beneath Gaza’s rubble was far from theoretical. She cited the burial last month of 112 members of an extended civilian family whose remains were recovered from beneath buildings in Gaza City that were destroyed by Israeli forces in November 2023.
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“The remains of 41 others killed in the same strike were never located,” her statement said.
“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,” Albanese said.
The expert called for international criminal investigators to oversee the evidence gathering, and to warn countries and companies involved in any removal that they “could incur international criminal responsibility” if they destroyed evidence of international crimes.
“Destroying evidence of atrocity crimes is illegal,” she stressed.
“It is unacceptable that the reconstruction of Gaza is conditioned upon the erasure of its past and the evidence required to secure justice for its victims.”
