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Israeli forces damaged or destroyed at least 16 cemeteries in the Gaza Strip[1] during the 2023 Israel–Hamas war in various places in Gaza within Palestine, as determined by evidence gathered by CNN, the New York Times and Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor.
According to Israel, their intentions were to: first, search for the bodies of Israeli hostages in a certain location after receiving intelligence to that end; and second, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) alleged, without providing evidence, that the digging up of Beit Hanoun Cemetery near Khan Yunis was due to a Hamas command center in a tunnel beneath the cemetery. CNN was unable to verify either the location of the tunnel being underneath the cemetery, and searched for but found no tunnel entrance on the cemetery grounds.[2]
More broadly, there are reports of various forms of necroviolence against Palestinians (against corpses) in the ongoing occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. In addition to the desecration or destruction of cemeteries, techniques include the withholding of Palestinian bodies from families, thus preventing the families' ability to mourn their loved ones; and "cemeteries of numbers" where graves are marked only with numbers and not names, thus dehumanizing the dead.[3][4]
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".[5][6]
The intentional destruction of religious sites is a possible war crime if done without military necessity.[6][7]
| 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 near Al-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 Cemetery map 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.[8][9] 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.[10] | x | x | ||
| Ali ibn Marwan Cemeterymap جامع ابن مروان | x | ||||||
| Northern Gaza Strip | Jabalia جباليا | Al Falouja map مقبرة الفالوجا | Desecrated by Israeli military. Gravestones weredestroyed, 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 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 خان يونس | Israeli forces opened tombs and removed bodies, and severely damaged graves. The IDF acknowledged having exhumed bodies in its search for 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 | ||
*Also transliterated Al-Faluja, Al-Fallujah, etc.
Tunisian Cemetery
Al-Batsh*
↑
Shajaiye small*
Shajaiye small*
Sheikh Ijlin*
Sheikh Radwan*
Sheikh Shaaban
St. Por- phyrius
Al-Tuffah*
Ali ibn-Marwan
Al-Falouja
Beit
Hanoun*
Hanoun*
Beit
Lahia*
Lahia*
New Bureij
Khan Yunis Central
Bani Suheila*
1.7km east of Khan Younis
1.7km east of Khan Younis
Damaged cemeteries in Gaza Strip. *approximate location
The New York Times report
In December 2023, The New York Times reported that Israeli forces razed six cemeteries in the Gaza Strip:israel-razes-cemeteries/>
- In Shajaiye, Gaza City, Israeli forces razed part of the Tunisian cemetery
- Israeli military vehicles destroyed dozens of graves at a smaller cemetery in Shajaiye
- Israeli forces damaged gravesites at the Al-Faluja cemetery
- Beit Hanoun cemetery also in northern Gaza
- Razing of a cemetery in Sheikh Ijlin, Gaza City
- Razing of a cemetery in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza Strip
Journalists from the New 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"[6]
Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor report
On January 16, 2024, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor reported bulldozing and desecration of more Gaza cemeteries than the Times 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.[11]
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:[11]
- Al-Tuffah cemetery
- Al-Batsh cemetery - The Al-Batsh Cemetery was established in October 2023 to bury unidentified people who were left in the Al-Shifa Hospital complex. Israeli forces leveled Al-Batsh in early January 2024 and a majority of the bodies were "removed, dismembered, and looted, along with some of the tombstones".
- Sheikh Shaaban Cemetery in Palestine Square, Gaza City (17–20 December, which included trampling of corpses)
- A cemetery 1.7 km (1.1 mi) east of central Khan Yunis on 20 December 2023
- Al-Fallujah cemetery in the northern Gaza Strip
- Ali bin Marwan
- Sheikh Radwan cemetery
- St. Porphyrius Church Cemetery in Gaza City
- Al-Shuhada Cemetery in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza
Khan Yunis Central Cemetery
On 17 January 2024, only one day after the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor report, NBC reported that earlier that week, Israeli troops severely damaged Khan Yunis Central Cemetery (31.348°N 34.293°E) near Nasser 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 of hostages 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.[5]
CNN report of 16 cemeteries damaged
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]
- Khan Yunis Central Cemetery
- A cemetery in Shajaiya
- Bani Suheila cemetery, east of Khan Yunis ("deliberate and progressive bulldozing, and the creation of defensive fortifications over the course of at least two weeks in late December and early January")
- New Bureij cemetery in Al-Bureij, a Palestinian refugee camp in central Gaza ("graves were visible on either side of the newly-bulldozed dirt road")
- Al Falouja cemetery in the Jabalya neighborhood, north of Gaza City
- Al-Tuffah cemetery, east of Gaza City
- A cemetery in Sheikh Ijlin neighborhood, Gaza City
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-director Janina Dill of the Oxford 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]
Israeli reaction and claims
Israeli claim of Hamas command center beneath Bani Suheila cemetery
Until 30 January 2024 IDF did not clarify the reasons behind the extensive bulldozing of cemeteries, for the establishment of military outposts, creation of roads, and otherwise, nor the presence of military vehicles in areas where graves had previously existed however the IDF did note that there was no explicit policy dictating the transformation of graveyards into military posts.[1]
However, on that date 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. Israel contended that the tunnel contained explosives, sliding doors and living quarters for Hamas fighters. Among the alleged discoveries was what the IDF alleged to be the office of the eastern Battalion commander from the Khan Yunis Brigade, which it contended to be a command center for the October 7 attacks. It also claims to have found what it asserted to be operation rooms, a battalion combat war room and bedrooms of senior Hamas officials. The tunnel, part of a larger underground a maze of tunnels constructed by Hamas, was destroyed by engineering forces after examination. Israel contended that Hamas used the tunnel for combat operations against Israeli forces.[14]
The Israeli military permitted CNN to visit the cemetery and surroundings for three hours, but did not allow CNN to see the alleged tunnel entrance that the IDF claimed was inside the cemetery. CNN visited the tunnel but was unable to determine if the tunnel was located underneath the cemetery or not. The IDF only permitted entrance to the tunnel from an entrance outside the cemetery perimeter, and later provided drone footage of that entrance as well a different entrance outside the perimeter. CNN broadcast footage of the completely destroyed, desecrated and dug-up cemetery grounds, damage which the IDF claimed was necessary in order to find and destroy the tunnel.[2]
In Gaza–Israel conflict
Israeli forces have been accused of necroviolence in 2020 in Gaza, including violently scooping up a corpse with a bulldozer.[15] On 30 January 2024, the bodies of 100 people taken by Israeli forces were reburied in a mass grave in Rafah, with medical sources reporting some bodies had organs missing.[16]
In 2019, the Israeli Supreme Court allowed the bodies of alleged Palestinian assailants to be withheld from their families, leading Defense for Children International to state Israeli authorities were violating international humanitarian law and international human rights law by confiscating the body of a 14-year-old Palestinian boy in the West Bank.[17]
In February 2024, Emek Shaveh, an Israeli archaeologists NGO, stated that Orthodox Jews in West Jerusalem had taken over a Muslim shrine and vandalized Muslim graves.[18] In March, an Israeli F-16 airstrike on a recently built cemetery in Jabalia resulted in human remains coming out of the soil and needing to be reburied.[19][20] On 7 March, Israeli returned the corpses of 47 people whose bodies had been removed during the Nasser Hospital siege.[21] On 9 March, Israeli settlers were recorded smashing and defacing gravestones at the Bab al-Rahma Cemetery in East Jerusalem.[22] In April 2024, the Gaza Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs stated the IDF had mutilated corpses, including postmortem decapitations and dismemberment.[23]
In September 2024, footage surfaced showing Israeli soldiers discarding the bodies of three deceased Palestinians from a rooftop during a raid in Qabatiya, located in the occupied West Bank near Jenin. 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.[24]
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. The International 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.[25]
Ongoing Israeli necroviolence methods
Aymun Moosavi, a student of MA International Conflict Studies at King's College London,[3] and Randa May Wahbe, a Harvard PhD candidate in anthropology, have described Israeli necroviolence as including:[4]
- 'Ambiguous loss'; withholding Palestinian bodies in freezers, thus preventing Palestinian families from mouring their loved ones
- The cemeteries of numbers (cemeteries where graves are marked only with numbers and not names, thus dehumanizing the dead)
- Demolition of historic gravesites
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