UN rights chief warns Gaza rubble clearance may destroy evidence
Volker Türk says Israeli bulldozers are clearing sites with “no respect for the dead” as remains are recovered from destroyed buildings.
United Nations human rights chief Volker Türk has condemned the continued clearance of rubble in Gaza, saying Israeli bulldozers are operating with “no respect for the dead” buried beneath destroyed buildings.
Türk said remains believed to belong to entire families, including women and children, were being recovered from sites destroyed during Israeli attacks. He warned the findings had heightened concerns that evidence of possible war crimes and other atrocity crimes could be destroyed or concealed.
Palestinian Civil Defence reportedly says more than 630 bodies and human remains have been recovered from beneath buildings since November 2025. Palestinian authorities estimate that more than 8,000 people remain buried in the rubble, though the identities and exact number of recovered remains have not been independently established in the supplied material.
The UN estimates Gaza contains about 61 million tonnes of wreckage and debris, which could take seven years to clear. Türk said the remains recovered so far could be “only the tip of the iceberg” and reiterated concerns about the use of explosive weapons in densely populated areas and compliance with the laws governing hostilities.
Funerals were held in northern Gaza on 6 September for about 100 people whose remains had been recovered, including 60 children, according to the report. Further deaths reported on Tuesday included one from sniper fire in Jabalia and at least two in a drone attack in Gaza City; those circumstances were not independently verified.
