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Israeli occupation troops clear 10 million tons of rubble in Gaza to ‘erase evidence’ of genocide

August 7, 2026

The Israeli military is conducting an organized operation to clear the rubble from neighborhoods it destroyed in the Gaza Strip, erasing crucial evidence of genocide and the remains of victims still unaccounted for under the rubble, the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor reported on 3 August.

According to the Palestinian rights group, the Israeli military and civilian contractors have crushed and removed 10 million tons of rubble from their original sites within the areas of Gaza under Israeli occupation and control.

Tel Aviv is using some 400 pieces of heavy machinery to excavate, demolish, crush, and transport rubble created by Israel’s bombing and demolition of Palestinian homes, apartment blocks, hospitals, schools, and mosques across the strip.

Nearly 100 Israeli trucks are leaving Gaza daily, carrying rubble to undisclosed sites within Israel and further south of the occupied West Bank.

Doing so is “destroying crucial evidence of genocide and the remains of victims still unaccounted for under the rubble,” Euro-Med wrote.

Israel’s genocide in Gaza has killed at least 73,000 Palestinians, the majority women and children. An estimated 8,500 Palestinians remain missing and are feared buried under the rubble of their destroyed homes.

Palestinians in Gaza City held one of its largest mass funerals since the beginning of the war for 112 members of a single clan who were killed in a single Israeli strike in 2023. Their bodies were recovered from rubble only recently, as many killed Palestinians are still missing pic.twitter.com/2UCbL8gtHG

— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) August 4, 2026

“The debris scattered throughout the Gaza Strip includes possible locations of unlawful killings and bombings that targeted entire families, as well as sites believed to contain mass graves or bodies buried within destroyed homes, hospitals, shelters, and civilian facilities,” Euro-Med stated.

The swift, systematic, and unmonitored removal of rubble prevents Palestinian families from learning the fate of their missing relatives and from recovering and burying their remains with dignity.

The debris in Gaza also includes essential building materials like steel, stone, and concrete that can be recycled and reused by Palestinians to one day rebuild their homes.

It may also contain property documents, official records, and personal belongings that are part of individuals’ and families’ rights and memories.

Removing this debris erases land boundaries, house foundations, street networks, and neighborhood features, making it more difficult for Palestinians to return and rebuild their homes and neighborhoods.

The deliberate removal of evidence also hampers ongoing investigations by the International Criminal Court (ICC) of Israeli crimes in Palestine.

Article 70(1)(c) of the Rome Statute considers “destroying, tampering with or interfering with the collection of evidence” as criminal acts.

A harrowing scene shows decomposed bodies after civil defense crews in the Gaza Strip retrieved them after they were finally able to reach victims who had been trapped beneath the rubble of their destroyed homes, which were targeted by Israeli airstrikes during the war. pic.twitter.com/Y0a5RxAglF

— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) July 5, 2026

“Transforming forcibly depopulated Palestinian towns and neighborhoods into leveled, open spaces under Israeli control is a concrete act that deepens the displacement and ethnic cleansing,” Euro-Med wrote.

The removal of rubble is in preparation for Israel to build settlements in Gaza for Israeli Jews.

“This process is inseparable from Israeli settler colonialism, which involves uprooting Palestinians, erasing signs of their presence, and redefining the land without them.”

Israel’s ban on journalists entering Gaza since the start of the genocide has also helped hide the state’s crimes against Palestinians.

Israel has also tried to erase evidence of the genocide by pressuring social media and tech firms to delete online video footage from Gaza.

In 2025, YouTube quietly erased more than 700 videos documenting Israeli war crimes in the strip by deleting the accounts of three prominent Palestinian human rights groups.