The United Nations has called for international investigators to be granted access across Gaza to help gather evidence as recovery teams continue to find human remains beneath the rubble of destroyed buildings.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said the discovery of bodies, including what appear to be entire families, raises serious concerns about possible violations of international law and the need for independent investigations.
“The remains of what appear to be entire families are now being unearthed at locations that were pulverised by Israeli attacks,” Türk said, warning that the bodies recovered so far could represent only part of the total number of people still buried beneath the debris.
Large areas of Gaza have been heavily damaged since the war began following the Hamas led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. The destruction has left extensive amounts of rubble across the territory, making recovery and identification of those killed extremely difficult.
Palestinian Civil Defence teams have continued searching through damaged buildings for human remains. According to the UN, recovery operations have been severely affected by limited access to heavy equipment needed to remove the rubble.
UN officials have previously reported that thousands of people could remain trapped beneath destroyed structures. The UN has also highlighted the scale of Gaza’s debris problem, estimating that more than 68 million tonnes of rubble have been generated by the conflict, creating major obstacles to recovery and reconstruction.
Ajith Sunghay, who heads the UN human rights office’s work in the occupied Palestinian territory, said Palestinian Civil Defence teams have been operating with extremely limited equipment, with rescuers at times forced to search through rubble by hand.
He warned that, at the current pace, recovering the remaining bodies could take many years.
Türk also raised concerns about continuing demolition and clearing operations in areas where Israeli forces remain deployed, saying that such activities could further complicate efforts to locate and recover people buried beneath destroyed buildings.
The UN has repeatedly called for independent investigations into alleged violations committed during the Gaza conflict and has stressed the importance of preserving evidence and ensuring access for international investigators. The Independent International Commission of Inquiry has likewise called for unhindered access to the occupied Palestinian territory to conduct investigations.
The recovery of human remains has therefore become both a humanitarian and accountability issue, with families still searching for missing relatives while investigators face major challenges in documenting what happened at sites affected by the fighting.
