“Euro-Med Monitor” Expresses Concern Over Israeli Army Digging Up Graves in Eastern Gaza Under Pretext of Searching for Last Captive’s Body

The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor expressed its grave concern on Monday over the extensive grave exhumation operations being carried out by the “Israeli” army in eastern Gaza City, under the pretext of searching for the body of its last captive in the besieged Strip.

The Monitor confirmed in a statement reviewed by the Yemeni News Agency (SABA) that this pretext does not provide any justification for violating the sanctity of Palestinian dead or tampering with their graves or remains. It stated that any search operations must be limited to the narrowest possible scope, with strict humanitarian guarantees, and under neutral international supervision.

It pointed out that over the past two years, the Israeli entity has systematically worked to destroy cemeteries in the Gaza Strip, exhume and vandalize graves, tamper with corpses, mutilate them, and loot dozens of them.

The Monitor stated that it has followed documented reports of the “Israeli” army exhuming about 200 graves in one cemetery in the Shuja’iyya neighborhood near the so-called “Yellow Line,” and that grave-opening operations are still ongoing, without any independent information or arrangements ensuring neutrality regarding whether examinations are being conducted on-site, or whether they are accompanied by looting of remains or transferring them to other locations.

It affirmed that these excavations multiply the danger of potential violations and undermine any claim of necessity or discipline in carrying out search operations, especially in light of the documented pattern of the Israeli entity targeting cemeteries in Gaza through destruction, bulldozing, tampering with remains, and looting corpses.

It indicated that the wide scope of grave openings and the continuation of operations in the absence of any neutral Palestinian or international party, such as the International Committee of the Red Cross, opens the door to exceeding the limits of searching for a specific body and multiplies the risks of violating the sanctity of cemeteries and the remains of the dead, including looting, transferring, or tampering with corpses without a traceable record.

“Euro-Med” warned that these practices not only violate the dignity of the dead but also inflict severe psychological harm on their families by keeping them in a state of constant doubt about the fate of their relatives’ remains and burial sites, and depriving them of any verification guarantee or official information, constituting cruel torture against the bereaved.

It reminded that the Israeli enemy army has destroyed 21 out of 60 cemeteries in the Gaza Strip over the past two years and has systematically worked to vandalize and exhume graves in all areas where it carried out ground incursions. This included bulldozing graves, extracting remains, and crushing them with military machinery, repeatedly leading to the mixing and disappearance of remains and damage to graves adjacent to excavation sites.

It added that on December 25, 2024, it received several testimonies of the “Israeli” army bulldozing the Beit Hanoun cemetery in northern Gaza and vandalizing graves inside it, where digging operations were observed in specific graves within the cemetery, with recently buried corpses being extracted and looted. Meanwhile, the remaining corpses became mixed, making identification of any difficult due to bulldozing and digging operations.

The Monitor listed a number of incidents of exhumation and vandalism of graves and cemeteries across various parts of the Gaza Strip at different times.

It clarified that, according to its documentation over the past months, the Israeli entity systematically violates the sanctity of the dead and their cemeteries, contravening the principles of international humanitarian law and the laws of war, which require the protection of cemeteries during armed conflicts, treating the dead with respect, preserving their graves, and preventing mutilation or tampering with corpses.

It reminded that international humanitarian law prohibits the looting of corpses and that attacks on dignity and degrading treatment, including of the dead, constitute a war crime under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

“Euro-Med” demanded an immediate halt to grave exhumation and bulldozing operations, preventing any unilateral search measures, and ensuring that any search claim is subject to strict, written, and public constraints that precisely define the scope of operations with minimal possible intervention, in the presence of a neutral specialized body like the International Committee of the Red Cross. This should include full documentati