ISRAELI OCCUPIED GAZA, 07 Feb. - (ANA) - Israeli forces have bulldozed part of a historic cemetery in the Gaza Strip containing war graves of British, Australian and other allied soldiers killed during the First and Second World Wars, new satellite images revealed, as Israel's ongoing assault continues to devastate civilian infrastructure across the enclave despite a ceasefire agreement.

 

Images published by The Guardian show bomb craters, extensive earthworks and a breached cemetery wall at a war cemetery where Allied soldiers are buried in Gaza City's Al-Tuffah neighbourhood, strongly indicating the use of heavy military equipment.

 

Human rights groups say the destruction forms part of a broader pattern of attacks on burial sites and places of memory across Gaza.

 

"Since the Nakba, which continues today, Israel has systematically targeted Palestinian cemeteries and sites of memory, erasing history, identity and presence," Zainah El-Haroun, spokesperson for Al-Haq, told The New Arab.

 

El-Haroun said the pattern, which has intensified during Israel’s ongoing genocidal war on Gaza, is part and parcel of Israel's "broader policies of genocidal erasure", as documented repeatedly by the organisation.

 

"The destruction of burial grounds, religious and archaeological sites, and other protected civilian objects constitutes violations of international humanitarian law and amounts to war crimes and crimes against humanity," she added.

 

The imagery published by The Guardian shows no visible disturbance in March 2025, but by August through December, the destruction is clearly apparent. Gravestones appear to have been removed, topsoil churned up, and a substantial earth berm cut across part of the site.

 

Vegetation had grown again in some areas of the cemetery but the southwest corner remained bare, according to the UK newspaper, which added that the damage was "substantial".

 

Essam Jaradah, a caretaker at the cemetery, said two bulldozing operations took place. The first targeted land outside the cemetery walls that had been planted with olive trees, while the second destroyed nearly 1,000 square metres inside the cemetery, including graves of Australian soldiers.

 

Australia later said it would repair the "distressing" damage.

 

"I witnessed this bulldozing after the Israeli army withdrew from the area, around late April or early May," Jaradah.

 

The Israeli army claimed its forces used the site "for cover" after allegedly being attacked by fighters, without providing any evidence.

 

The destruction of the war cemetery comes amid widespread damage to Palestinian burial sites across Gaza. Human rights organisations have documented repeated cases of Israeli forces exhuming, bulldozing and levelling cemeteries, and in some instances removing human remains, describing the practice as a pattern of deliberate "necroviolence".

 

Palestinian forensic officials say Israeli operations at cemeteries have not only damaged burial sites but caused lasting harm to families searching for missing loved ones.

 

"The Israeli occupation army used inhumane methods in its search for one of its bodies, violating human dignity by exhuming and destroying graves and leaving Palestinian bodies exposed in the open without any procedures or safeguards," Mahmoud Ashour, spokesperson for the Criminal Evidence Department in the Gaza Strip, told The New Arab.

 

"This constitutes a blatant violation of human rights and human dignity. Moreover, these actions have resulted in many bodies becoming unidentified, with families unable to recognise the remains of their loved ones or know their true burial locations, deepening their humanitarian and psychological suffering," he added.

 

Palestinian rights advocates say the destruction of cemeteries reflects a broader pattern of dehumanisation that extends even to the dead.

 

"The latest destruction of the cemeteries in Gaza is a testament to how little they regard Palestinians, whether alive or dead. The total disregard for the sanctity of graves and the treatment of the bodies of deceased Palestinians as an object that can be tossed away without any regard for their loved ones... these actions show how much Palestinians have been dehumanized in the eyes of the Israelis," Ubai Al-Aboudi, the executive director of the Bisan Centre for Research and Development, told The New Arab.

 

Israeli forces previously caused extensive destruction while searching for the remains of a captive at Al-Batsh cemetery in eastern Gaza City. Around 250 graves were damaged and some 700 exhumed, according to Israeli officials.

 

As Israel's war continues, many Palestinian families say they can no longer locate the graves of loved ones killed in the assault. With cemeteries destroyed or inaccessible, improvised mass graves have appeared in streets, courtyards and stadiums across the enclave.

 

Gaza’s Ministry of Religious Affairs says Israeli airstrikes and bulldozing have fully or partially destroyed dozens of Gaza's more than 60 cemeteries.   - (ANA) -

 

AB/ANA/07 February 2026  - - -