Palestine Tet – 53 – Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor: Israel demolishes Gaza cemeteries, confiscates dead bodies of Palestinians

Israel systematically violates the sanctity of the dead and of cemeteries, the human rights organisation said, in flagrant violation of the principles of international humanitarian law and the rules of war in relation to the protection of cemeteries during armed conflicts.

Rule 115 of customary international humanitarian law states: “The dead must be disposed of in a respectful manner and their graves respected and properly maintained.” Article (130) of the Geneva Convention of 1949 also states that graves must be respected, properly maintained, and marked in such a way that they can always be recognised.

According to Euro-Med Monitor, more than 120 mass graves were recently established across the Gaza Strip to bury those killed in Israel’s ongoing genocide of Gazans, given the difficulty of accessing the main and regular cemeteries and the non-stop Israeli attacks.

Families in the Gaza Strip have resorted to creating random mass graves in residential neighbourhoods, courtyards, roads, wedding halls, and stadiums. More than 120 of these mass graves have been established so far.

Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor reiterated that Israel—like any other country—must abide by the principles of international law, which stipulate that the dead must be respected and protected during armed conflicts, and that the parties involved must take all reasonable steps to prevent the confiscation and dismemberment of the dead bodies.