During theGaza war, at least 16 cemeteries in the Gaza Strip were reported to have been damaged or destroyed by Israeli forces, according to investigations byCNN, theNew York Times andEuro-Med Human Rights Monitor.[1][2][3] TheIsrael Defense Forces (IDF) stated that some cemetery disturbances were carried out as part of military operations,[4] including searches for the bodies of Israeli hostages based on intelligence reports, such as the body of the last remaining hostage,Ran Gvili.[5]
Some reports indicate incidents ofnecroviolence affecting Palestinians corpses in theWest Bank andGaza Strip. These include desecration or destruction of graves, withholding of bodies from families to prevent traditional mourning, and the use of numbered graves without personal identifiers, practices which have been described as dehumanizing.[6]
Israel has conducted a number of activities in cemeteries in Gaza, including establishing military bases and, according to the IDF, exhuming bodies for the purposes of attempting to locate the bodies of hostages; they conduct "precise hostage rescue operations in the specific locations where information indicates that the bodies of hostages may be located".[7][2]
The intentional destruction of religious sites is a possible war crime if done without military necessity.[2][8]
| Part of Gaza Strip | Neighbor- hood | Cemetery (مقبرة) name | Alleged incident reported in: 1. NYT 2023-12-14, 2. Euromed 2024-01-16, 3. CNN 2024-01-20 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date(s) | Description | 1 | 2 | 3 | |||
| Gaza City غَزَّة | City Center nearAl-Shifa Hospital | Al-Baṭsh البطش | Early Jan. 2024 | Israeli forces leveled the cemetery and a majority of the bodies were "removed, dismembered, and looted, along with some of the tombstones" | x | ||
| Shajaiye الشجاعية | Tunisian Cemeterymap مقبرة التوانسي | Israeli forces razed part of the cemetery, raised berms and parked armored vehicles behind the berms.[1] | x | ||||
| Unspecified, "smaller than Tunisian" (Shajā‛iye Cemetery ? مقبرة الشجاعية) | Israeli military vehicles destroyed dozens of graves | x | x | ||||
| Sheikh Ijlin الشيخ عجلين | Sheikh Ijlin الشيخ عجلين | Razing | x | x | |||
| Sheikh Radwan الشيخ رضوان | Sheikh Radwan الشيخ رضوان | x | |||||
| Palestine Square ميدان فلسطين a.k.a. Al-Saha (As-Saha) الساحة | Sheikh Shaaban لشيخ شعبان | 17–20 or 21 Dec. 2023 | Bulldozers destroyed cemetery.[9][10] Included trampling of corpses. | x | |||
| Zaytun, Old City الزيتون | St. Porphyrius Church كَنِيسَة الْقِدِّيس بُرْفِيرْيُوس | x | |||||
| Tuffah التفاح | Tuffah التفاح | Days prior to 6 Jan. 2024 | Israeli army exhumed bodies and smashed their graves.[11] | x | x | ||
| Ali ibn Marwan Cemeterymap جامع ابن مروان | x | ||||||
| Northern Gaza Strip | Jabalia جباليا | Al Faloujamap مقبرة الفالوجا | Desecrated by Israeli military. Gravestones were destroyed, soil was upturned, treadmarks from tanks that rolled through. | x | x | x | |
| Beit Hanoun بيت حانون | Beit Hanoun بيت حانون | x | |||||
| Beit Lahia بيت لاهيا | Shuhada شُهَدَاء | Razing | x | x | |||
| Central Gaza Strip | Bureij البريج | New Bureij[1] مقبرة البريج الجديدة | Israeli army drove a tank with CNN reporters inside over a dirt road through the graveyard recently bulldozed by Israeli tanks. Graves were visible on either side of the newly-bulldozed dirt road.[1] | x | |||
| Southern Gaza Strip | Khan Yunis خان يونس | Khan Yunis Central[2] خان يونس | Israeli forces opened tombs and removed bodies, and severely damaged graves. The IDF acknowledged having exhumed bodies in its search for the bodies of Israeli hostages.[1] | x | |||
| Bani Suheila بني سهيلا | Bani Suheila بني سهيلا | 2+ weeks Dec–Jan 2023–4 | Deliberate and progressive bulldozing over two weeks, building defensive fortifications.[1] | x | x | ||
*Alsotransliterated Al-Faluja, Al-Fallujah, etc.
In December 2023,The New York Times reported that Israeli forces razed six cemeteries in the Gaza Strip[2]
Journalists from theNew York Times Visual Investigations identified the destruction through the analysis of different sources, using satellite imagery and video. The Times asked the IDF for comment and received no response. The report noted that "The laws of armed conflict consider the intentional destruction of religious sites without military necessity a possible war crime"[2]
On January 16, 2024,Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor reported bulldozing and desecration of more Gaza cemeteries than theTimes did (up to 12, but lists 9). It also reported large holes have been created in cemeteries as a result of frequent Israeli attacks, engulfing dozens of graves, and the remains of some dead bodies have been scattered or have disappeared. In addition, the organization reported that graves were dug up and corpses stolen in Al-Faluga cemetery of Palestinian activists.[3]
Rami Abdu, the director of Euro-Med Monitor, alleges the desecration of the Al-Tuffah graveyard by the Israeli Army, stating that Israeli bulldozers ruthlessly dug and destroyed the cemetery. The Palestinian government in Gaza condemned the Israeli Army for disturbing 1,100 graves there as well as of pilfering 150 bodies, reporting that Israeli bulldozers leveled the cemetery, resulting in the desecration of the deceased, calling it a "heinous crime".[12]
The cemeteries named include:[3]
On 17 January 2024, only one day after the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor report,NBC reported that earlier that week, Israeli troops severely damagedKhan Yunis Central Cemetery (31°20′53″N34°17′35″E / 31.348°N 34.293°E /31.348; 34.293) nearNasser Hospital, bulldozing it over, crushing tombstones, damaging tombs, and exposing graves holding human remains in some of the burial plots. The IDF stated that the incident was part of a precise effort to locate and recover the bodies ofhostages taken by Hamas. The IDF emphasized what it called its commitment to respectful treatment of the deceased, and said that it returns bodies not identified as hostages with dignity. Ramy Abdu, chairman of Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, stated that the attack, considering previous Israeli assaults on Palestinian cemeteries, indicated that Israel "systematically violates the sanctity of the deceased and their graves".[13] In another CNN report, Israel stated more explicitly that it was exhuming corpses in Gaza cemeteries to see if any corpses there were those of Israeli hostages.[7]
CNN reported on 20 January 2024 that a total of sixteen Gaza cemeteries had been damaged, publishing before and after photos of several and specifying seven in total:[1]
At Al Falouja, Al-Tuffah, and Sheik Ijlin, CNN reported "destroyed tombstones and heavy tread marks pointed to heavily armored vehicles or tanks driving over graves".[1]
In the report, co-directorJanina Dill of theOxford Institute for Law, Ethics and Armed Conflict stated that attacking or destroying cemeteries violates international law except under very limited circumstances where the cemetery itself is a military objective.[1]
The IDF did not initially clarify the reasons behind the extensive bulldozing of cemeteries or the presence of military vehicles in areas where graves had previously existed. The IDF said that they had no policy of transforming graveyards into military posts.[1]
On 29 January 2024 the IDF claimed to discover a Hamas operation room in an underground tunnel which it claimed lay 20 metres (66 ft) beneath the Bani Suheila cemetery in Khan Yunis.[14] The Israeli military permitted CNN to visit the cemetery and surroundings, but did not allow CNN to see the alleged tunnel. The IDF only permitted CNN entrance to a tunnel outside the cemetery perimeter. CNN was unable to determine if the tunnel was located underneath the cemetery or not. The IDF claimed the destruction of the cemetery grounds was necessary in order to find and destroy the tunnel.[4]
In January 2026, the Israeli military excavated approximately 250 graves in the Al-Batsh cemetery in order to find the body of Israeli policeman Ran Gvili. According toAl Jazeera, this effort involved the use of heavy machinery, destroyed tombstones, and led to "a significant alteration of the cemetery’s landscape".[15]
According to a report fromThe Guardian, Israeli forces bulldozed a portion of the Al-Tuffah cemetery containing allied forces killed inWorld War I andWorld War II. The impacted areas included sections containing mostlyAustralian forces from World War II andBritish forces from World War I. A plot forCanadian UN peacekeepers also appears to have been completely destroyed. An IDF spokesperson said both that the cemetery was an "active combat zone" and that "underground terrorist infrastructure was identified within the cemetery". The former caretaker of the cemetery said that it had been bulldozed "after the Israeli army withdrew from the area".[16]
Israeli forces have been accused of necroviolence in2020 in Gaza, including violently scooping up a corpse with a bulldozer.[17] On 30 January 2024, the bodies of 100 people taken by Israeli forces were reburied in amass grave inRafah, with medical sources reporting some bodies had organs missing.[18]
In 2019, theIsraeli Supreme Court allowed the bodies of alleged Palestinian assailants to be withheld from their families, leadingDefense for Children International to state Israeli authorities were violatinginternational humanitarian law and international human rights law by confiscating the body of a 14-year-old Palestinian boy in the West Bank.[19]
In February 2024, Emek Shaveh, an Israeli archaeologists NGO, stated that Orthodox Jews inWest Jerusalem had taken over a Muslim shrine and vandalized Muslim graves.[20] In March, an IsraeliF-16 airstrike on a recently built cemetery inJabalia resulted in human remains coming out of the soil and needing to be reburied.[21][22] On 7 March, Israeli returned the corpses of 47 people whose bodies had been removed during theNasser Hospital siege.[23] On 9 March, Israeli settlers were recorded smashing and defacing gravestones at theBab al-Rahma Cemetery in East Jerusalem.[24] In April 2024, the Gaza Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs stated the IDF had mutilated corpses, including postmortem decapitations and dismemberment.[25]
In September 2024, footage surfaced showing Israeli soldiers discarding the bodies of three deceased Palestinians from a rooftop during a raid inQabatiya, located in the occupied West Bank nearJenin. Local reports indicated that at least seven people were killed during the operation, which involved Israeli forces surrounding a building. Witnesses described how four men tried to flee to the roof but were shot by snipers. After the violence subsided, soldiers were observed throwing the bodies over the edge, with a bulldozer later arriving to remove them.[26]
On 25 September 2024, a truck carrying 88 unidentified bodies of Palestinians was sent through an Israeli-controlled border to Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis. Zaher Al-Wahadi, head of the Palestinian Health Information Centre, noted that no details were provided about their identities or circumstances of death, marking the fifth instance of such unidentified bodies being received. TheInternational Committee of the Red Cross highlighted that, according to international humanitarian law, individuals who die in armed conflicts should be treated with dignity, and their remains must be managed appropriately. The law requires that deceased individuals be searched for, collected, and evacuated from combat zones to help ensure that people do not go missing.[27]
Randa May Wahbe, a Harvard PhD candidate in anthropology, have described Israeli necroviolence as including:[6]
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