UN Expert Warns of Erasure of International Crimes Committed by the Occupation, Including Genocide in Gaza

Geneva, July 7 (KUNA) -- A UN expert warned on Monday that the removal of rubble in areas of the Gaza Strip under the control of Israeli occupation forces could become a means of erasing traces and evidence of “outrageous” international crimes, including genocide, or of entrenching the illegal occupation. In a statement, Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, called for international criminal investigators to supervise the collection of this vital evidence. Albanese stressed that rubble clearance must be carried out within a plan devised by Palestinians and supported by entities they trust, emphasizing the importance of dignified recovery, identification, and handling of victims’ remains, as well as systematic documentation of sites, materials, and preservation of evidence. She added that Palestinian authorities estimate more than 10,000 people remain buried under the rubble, noting that the possibility of finding human remains among Gaza’s debris is not merely theoretical. The UN rapporteur recalled that on August 4, Palestinians buried 112 members of a single family after their remains were recovered over a 17-day operation from buildings in Gaza City that were destroyed in November 2023, noting that the remains of 41 other martyrs from the same strike remain missing. She warned that destroying evidence of international crimes could expose those involved to international criminal responsibility for those crimes. She highlighted the International Court of Justice’s January 2024 rulings, which underscored the need for the occupying power to take effective measures to prevent the destruction of evidence related to allegations of violations of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and to ensure its preservation. Albanese expressed deep concern over the scale and nature of the destruction inflicted on Gaza since October 2023, citing a UN report stating that more than 92 percent of housing units in the Strip had been destroyed or damaged, and describing the scale of destruction and displacement as unprecedented in modern warfare. (End) A.M.K. / F.S.