UN rights chief says uncovered remains in Gaza raise concerns of war crimes

Volker Türk calls for full access in Gaza for international investigators to help preserve evidence

People stand in front of dozens of body bags at a mass funeral. — Palestinians attend a mass funeral in Gaza City on Sept. 6 for those who were killed in a 2023 Israeli strike and whose remains were recently recovered from beneath the rubble, according to Gaza’s Civil Defence. (Dawoud Abu Alkas/Reuters)

The recovery of hundreds of bodies from the rubble of buildings destroyed by Israeli strikes in Gaza during the war that began nearly three years ago has raised fresh concerns about possible war crimes, the United Nations human rights chief said Tuesday.

Volker Türk said the remains of what appeared to be entire families were being unearthed from sites destroyed during Israeli attacks, adding that many victims were women and children.

“It is heartbreaking that the loved ones of those missing for so long are only now having their worst fears confirmed,” he said in a statement.

He said the discoveries revived concerns raised in a 2024 UN report that found Israeli strikes on residential buildings and other civilian sites during the early weeks of the war may have violated international humanitarian law.

The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office and Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Israel has repeatedly rejected allegations that it deliberately targets civilians and says it acted in accordance with international law while fighting Hamas militants in Gaza.

Israel’s assault on Gaza — launched after Hamas’s deadly raid into Israel in October 2023 — has generated around 61 million tons of wreckage and debris that could take seven years to clear, according to the United Nations.

Families waited three years to bury loved ones in Gaza

In early August, mourners gathered in a Gaza City neighbourhood where it’s taken nearly three years to retrieve the remains of 112 people, killed by an Israeli airstrike. Surviving members of the Abu Sharia and Hasayna families said they’ve long been looking alongside Gaza’s Civil Defence crews for their loved ones, but a lack of heavy machinery in the war-torn territory has slowed efforts.

A U.S.-brokered ceasefire brought an end to full-scale fighting in October 2025, but has failed to halt regular Israeli strikes, as both sides accuse each other of violating the truce.

The Palestinian Civil Defence says more than 630 bodies and human remains have been recovered from beneath destroyed buildings across Gaza since November 2025.

Palestinian authorities estimate more than 8,000 people remain buried in the wreckage.

Türk said he feared the remains recovered so far could be “only the tip of the iceberg,” noting that large parts of Gaza had been flattened by Israeli bombing or later demolition and clearance operations.

He also accused Israel of continuing to level some areas of Gaza where its forces remain deployed, saying bulldozers were operating “with no respect for the dead under the rubble.”

Israeli restrictions impeding recovery efforts

Ajith Sunghay, head of the UN human rights office for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, said that Israeli restrictions on items like DNA kits and excavators were impeding recovery and identification efforts.

“The collective impact of Israel’s conduct is making any systematic, large-scale search, recovery, and identification work nearly impossible,” he told a Geneva news briefing on Tuesday.

Sometimes, Palestinian teams were having to dig through rubble with their bare hands, he added.

Israeli authorities did not immediately respond to the UN allegations on supply restrictions. Israel’s COGAT military agency, which controls access to Gaza, has previously justified long-held restrictions on items it said could be used for a “terrorist buildup.”

The 2023 Hamas-led attacks killed 1,200 people in Israel while another 251 were taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.

More than 73,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s military campaign, according to Gaza health authorities.

Israel says it has gone to great lengths to avoid civilian casualties and ⁠that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields in densely populated areas — an accusation Hamas denies.

The UN rights chief called for international investigators to be granted access to all parts of Gaza to help preserve evidence, citing ongoing legal proceedings examining conduct during the war.

Israel has blocked the entry of heavy machinery needed to remove rubble, according to Türk’s statement.

Francesca Albanese, the UN expert on the Palestinian territories, has said evidence should be gathered and human remains identified before full clearance starts.

This month, the Palestinian Civil Defence said 96 bodies and human remains had been recovered from a single site in the Zeitoun area of Gaza City, including 58 children and 23 women. — Thomson Reuters