A CNN investigation, based on satellite imagery and video footage, has revealed that the Israeli military has destroyed several graveyards in Gaza under the pretext of determining whether their soldiers, reported as deceased, were buried there.
According to the American network, the Israeli defense forces have demolished at least 16 cemeteries in Gaza, for which CNN supplied the corroborating satellite images and video clips.
The report added that the Israeli military used bulldozers to demolish numerous graveyards, breaking tombstones and exhuming some bodies during their ground operation in Gaza.
CNN allocated space for comments from legal experts who verified that the deliberate destruction of religious sites such as cemeteries and converting them into military targets is a violation of international law.
Experts clarified that Israel’s actions could rise to the level of a “crime.”
A spokesperson for the Israeli military confirmed to the network that some graves in Gaza were dug up, saying this was done to determine if Israeli hostages had been buried there.
The Israeli spokesperson claimed that Hamas, the Islamic Resistance Movement, uses cemeteries for “military purposes,” and thus, the army “has no choice but to target these graveyards.”
In response to a written inquiry about the exhumation of graves, the Israeli military reiterated that it had exhumed graves in Gaza to uncover bodies, alleging this was to determine whether their captives, announced dead, had been interred there.
It is noteworthy that, since October 7, 2023, the occupying army has waged a devastating war on Gaza, which to date has resulted in more than 25,000 martyrs and 62,000 injuries. This has led to the displacement of about 1.9 million residents of the enclave amidst tremendous destruction of homes and infrastructure, according to Gaza authorities and the United Nations.
