Geneva: The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese called on people not to turn rubble removal operations in areas of the Gaza Strip under Israeli military control into a means to "erase traces of atrocity crimes."
Albanese said that the operations to remove, crush and transport rubble in Gaza should not lead to the destruction of evidence of international crimes or prevent the recovery and identification of human remains, stressing that the rubble in Gaza contains human remains and important material evidence to investigate allegations of international crimes.
She noted that more than 10,000 people are believed to still be buried under the rubble, while about "70 percent of Gaza is subject to access restrictions and varying degrees of Israeli military control."
In August, Albanese received "credible information" from multiple sources indicating a process that involves "deliberate and widespread removal, crushing, and transport of rubble."
"It is part of a crime scene, a graveyard, and the material record of what happened during a brutal and senseless bombing campaign that lasted two years," she added.
Albanese continued: "The recovery and dignified identification of human remains, systematic documentation of sites and materials, preservation of potentially relevant evidence, and an unbroken chain of custody under independent oversight must take place." She called for international criminal investigators to oversee this vital evidence gathering.
"State actors and companies involved in its removal should take note that by destroying evidence of international crimes, they could incur international criminal responsibility in connection to those crimes,” Albanese warned.
