UN Warns Israel Gaza Rubble Removal Could Erase War Crimes Evidence — SkimNews
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- Francesca Albanese, the UN's Special Rapporteur on the occupied territories, warned Monday that states and companies removing Gaza rubble 'could incur international criminal responsibility' for destroying evidence of crimes committed during Israel's genocidal war on the enclave.
- The International Court of Justice ordered Israel in 2024 to take effective measures to prevent destruction of evidence under the Genocide Convention; Albanese called it 'unacceptable' that Gaza reconstruction is 'conditioned upon the erasure of its past and the evidence required to secure justice for its victims.'
- The Israeli military carried out a massive August operation to crush, mix, and transport millions of tonnes of rubble from sites including cemeteries and other known locations of human remains.
- A Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor report issued last month said the debris removal could amount to demographic engineering and erasing evidence of genocide.
- Palestinian authorities estimate more than 8,000 people remain buried under the debris, with Israel continuing to block the heavy machinery and forensic supplies needed to recover bodies.
- Raed al-Dahshan, head of Gaza's civil defence service, told Al Jazeera that with proper equipment, remains recovery could be completed in about 90 days — but could take years without it.
Why it matters: With more than 8,000 Palestinians estimated still buried under the debris and Israel blocking the heavy machinery needed to recover them, the UN warning reframes rubble clearance as a potential criminal act — placing any foreign state or company participating in the operation at risk of complicity charges before international courts, two years after the ICJ's binding evidence-preservation order.
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