The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Observatory said that it documented the Israeli occupation army’s attack on at least 12 cemeteries in the Gaza Strip by deliberately bulldozing them, exhuming and vandalizing the graves in them, and stealing dozens of bodies from them in the midst of the ongoing crime of genocide against Palestinian civilians since the 7th of last October.

Preliminary testimonies collected by the Euro-Mediterranean Observatory showed that Israeli attacks targeted several cemeteries in the Gaza Strip, as its field team inspected yesterday, Friday, January 5, that the Al-Batash cemetery, east of Gaza City, was subjected to extensive leveling operations that included digging up graves and trampling on the bodies of the dead with military vehicles. In it and cut some of them.

Residents in the vicinity of the cemetery area said that it was created on October 22 for the purpose of burying dozens of unidentified martyrs after they had accumulated for days at the time inside the Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza.

Residents stated that the Al-Batash cemetery later received a large number of martyrs and dead due to their families’ inability to reach the eastern areas of Gaza City and bury them in the main cemeteries, before it was subjected to an invasion by the occupation army last week with military vehicles and bulldozers.

After it was stormed, it was observed that the cemetery was completely demolished and the graves were exhumed to the point of extracting most of the bodies from them, cutting them up, mutilating them, and looting a number of them, including some of the tombstones that were placed to determine the identity of those buried there.

Mrs. Nour Nasser, a resident of Gaza City who was displaced to areas south of the Gaza Strip, said that her brother, the martyr Muhammad (in his twenties), was buried in the “Al-Batsh” cemetery in a state of broken pieces, but they were later shocked that the cemetery was subjected to bulldozing operations and that no remains of her brother remained. . Nasser added: “The Israeli army not only killed my brother, but also went so far as to deprive the family of even visiting him inside a grave.”

In another incident, the occupation army, with its military vehicles, raided the cemetery of the Al-Tuffah neighborhood, east of Gaza City, and exhumed more than a thousand graves. The neighborhood’s residents said that it stole more than 150 bodies of newly buried martyrs from it.

On December 25, the Euro-Mediterranean Observatory also received several testimonies that the Israeli army bulldozed the Beit Hanoun cemetery in the northern Gaza Strip and vandalized graves inside it.

Muhammad Abu Awad from the town of Beit Hanoun told the Euro-Med team that they were surprised by the effects of the Israeli army storming the town’s cemetery, demolishing the graves with military vehicles, and completely destroying the cemetery.

“Abu Awad” stated that they observed digging operations carried out by the Israeli army in specific graves inside the cemetery, and taking out the bodies of the recently buried martyrs and looting them, while the remaining bodies were mixed together so that it was difficult to identify any of them, as a result of the bulldozing and digging operations.

From December 17 to 20, the Israeli army raided the Sheikh Shaaban cemetery in the Palestine Square area in Gaza City, bulldozing dozens of graves there and trampling over the bodies of the dead and dead.

On December 20, the Euro-Med team observed extensive destruction and sabotage operations carried out by the Israeli army in a cemetery located about 1.7 kilometers east of the central part of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, which included exhuming graves in an area of about 2,500 square meters.

At the beginning of the same month, it was revealed that the Israeli army raided the Al-Faluga cemetery in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip, and caused major damage to it, which became apparent after the military vehicles retreated from it. This included vandalizing graves and gravestones and stealing some bodies from them.

The Euro-Mediterranean Observatory documented Israeli attacks on the cemeteries of (Ali bin Marwan), (Sheikh Radwan), (Al-Shuhada/Eastern Cemetery), and (The Tunisian Cemetery), in addition to the cemetery of (St. Porphyrius Church), all of which are located in Gaza City, in addition to the (Martyrs) cemetery. In the town of Beit Lahia, north of the Gaza Strip, which led to the sabotage and destruction of dozens of graves there, and an attack on the dignity of the martyrs, without respecting the sanctity of the graves and the dead.

The repeated attacks led to the creation of large holes inside these cemeteries, which swallowed up dozens of graves. The remains of the dead were scattered and some of them disappeared, in addition to dozens of graves adjacent to them being seriously damaged.

It is noteworthy that the Euro-Mediterranean Observatory documented the establishment of more than 120 random mass graves in the governorates of the Gaza Strip to bury those killed in military attacks, in light of the difficulty of accessing the main and regular cemeteries and the continued Israeli targeting of the cemeteries and their surroundings.

Families in the Gaza Strip resorted to creating random mass graves in residential neighborhoods, courtyards, roads, wedding halls, and sports stadiums. The number reached more than 120 random mass graves in which 3 or more members of the targeted families were buried.

Euro-Med stressed that the crime of genocide committed by Israel in the Gaza Strip since October 7th has not spared even the dead, in light of reprehensible international complicity.

Euro-Med pointed out that Israel systematically violates the sanctity of the dead and their graves and violates the principles of international humanitarian law and the rules of war regarding the necessity of protecting graves during armed conflicts. Customary rules of international humanitarian law stipulate that the bodies of the dead must be treated with respect, and their graves must be respected and properly maintained.

The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor reiterated the need for Israel to be bound by the rules of international law, which stipulate the necessity of respecting the bodies of the dead, not taking them, and protecting them during armed conflicts, and the need for the parties to the conflict to take all possible measures to prevent the dead and dead from being robbed of their dignity and the mutilation of their bodies.