UN Rapporteur Says Israeli-Controlled Rubble Removal in Gaza Risks Destroying War Crimes Evidence

Gaza's rubble is not construction waste, according to Francesca Albanese. It is, in her words, a crime scene and a graveyard.

The UN special rapporteur on the Palestinian territories said in a statement Monday that she has received "credible information from multiple sources" over the past month describing "deliberate and widespread removal, crushing and transport of rubble" in parts of Gaza under Israeli control. She said the practice threatens to erase physical evidence tied to allegations of international crimes, including genocide, before it can be recovered or catalogued.

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

Albanese cited estimates from Palestinian authorities that more than 10,000 people remain buried beneath debris across the territory, a figure that has not been independently verified. She pointed to one case as evidence the recovery of remains is not theoretical: last month, 112 members of an extended civilian family were buried after their remains were located in the wreckage of Gaza City buildings that Israel destroyed in November 2023. The remains of 41 others killed in the same strike, her statement said, were never found.

Albanese called for international criminal investigators to oversee any future rubble clearance, and warned that countries and companies involved in removal operations "could incur international criminal responsibility" if evidence is destroyed in the process. She said recovery and identification of remains, documentation of strike sites, and an "unbroken chain of custody under independent oversight" must come before any large-scale clearing or reconstruction work proceeds.

"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."

Israel did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the statement, according to The New Arab. Albanese, appointed by the UN Human Rights Council in 2022, does not speak on behalf of the UN itself and has repeatedly accused Israel of genocide and war crimes in Gaza and the West Bank, drawing sustained criticism from Israeli officials and their allies. The United States, Israel's principal military backer, has sanctioned Albanese over her criticism of Washington's Gaza policy, though the source material does not detail the scope or legal basis of those measures.

Gaza's health ministry says the two-year Israeli bombardment and ground campaign has killed more than 73,000 Palestinians, including over 1,330 since a ceasefire took hold last October, a figure Israel disputes. Israeli figures put the death toll from Hamas's October 7 attack at 1,221.