Gaza Herald – Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor said Israel’s burial of Palestinian bodies in undisclosed mass and individual graves represents a systematic pattern that demands urgent criminal investigation and accountability.
The group said Israeli forces carried out these covert burials across multiple areas, particularly near the aid distribution centers imposed in central and southern Gaza. It warned that burying victims this way keeps their identities and burial sites unknown, denying families the right to know the fate of their loved ones.
Euro-Med said a CNN investigation confirming Israeli burial of Palestinians near aid points reinforces its own documented findings, based on field investigations, interviews with survivors and relatives of the missing, eyewitness accounts, and visual evidence analysis.
Its documentation shows Israeli forces repeatedly buried bodies in public squares and near vital facilities, including aid hubs, hospitals, and schools, after sealing off these areas militarily and preventing medical teams, families, and residents from accessing the bodies or burying them properly.
The group said these practices erase evidence of unlawful killings and obstruct any effective investigation. Some families later found their relatives buried in shallow pits left behind after Israeli withdrawals, especially around aid centers and forced displacement routes.
Euro-Med verified the testimony of a German contractor working with a humanitarian organization in Gaza who said he saw Israeli forces shoot Palestinians attempting to collect aid, killing several of them, before he was instructed to “clean the area,” which included bulldozing bodies and body parts.
At least 45 people remain missing around aid distribution sites, their fate still unknown. Euro-Med called for an independent, international investigation into Israel’s burial operations around crowded areas, aid points, and displacement corridors.
The group said Israel must immediately reveal all burial sites it created in Gaza, prevent any tampering with bodies or evidence, and allow independent forensic teams to enter the Strip without delay.
