CNN Probe Finds Israeli Military Bulldozed Bodies of Gazan Aid Seekers into Shallow, Unmarked Graves
Gaza (QNN)- A new CNN investigation has pointed to the Israeli military bulldozing the bodies of aid seekers near an aid crossing in northern Gaza into shallow, unmarked graves after killing them, and at other times leaving the remains to decompose in the open. The probe is the latest to document Israel’s “systematic and widespread pattern of burial operations” during the genocide, leaving families without answers about the fate of their loved ones.
The CNN investigation was published on Wednesday and drew upon hundreds of videos and photos from around the Zikim crossing in northern Gaza, along with interviews of eyewitnesses and local aid truck drivers.
It revealed that the Israeli military bulldozed the bodies of some of those aid seekers who were killed by Israeli forces near the crossing into “shallow, unmarked graves.” At other times, their remains were simply left to decompose in the open, unable to be recovered in the militarized area by other aid seekers or the civil defense due to the dangerous conditions.
Aid seekers were also killed by indiscriminate Israeli fire near the crossing, the probe confirmed.
The practice of mishandling bodies by bulldozing them into unmarked graves can violate international law, according to legal experts.
One of the Israeli military whistleblowers told CNN that when his unit buried nine people in early 2024, the location of the grave was left unmarked.
In one incident, an ambulance operated by civil defense workers in Gaza was permitted to access the area several days after the Israeli military opened fire towards an aid truck and killed several aid seekers.
Videos obtained and geolocated by CNN to that location in Zikim show a crushed, overturned aid truck amid a pile of debris. Several decomposing bodies are scattered around the vehicle, partially buried in mounds of sand. A stray dog is seen nearby.
“We were shocked by the scene,” one of the civil defense workers told CNN. “The (bodies) we recovered were decomposed – they had clearly been there for a while, there were signs that dogs had eaten parts of them.”
A half dozen local aid truck drivers who worked the Zikim route described scenes of strewn and decomposing bodies as a common sight, with Israeli bulldozers at times clearing the corpses into the sand.
“I see dead people every time I drive through Zikim… I watched Israeli bulldozers bury the dead bodies,” one driver said. “If you passed through that area in July, you wouldn’t miss it; I kept my windows closed.”
“Israeli army bulldozers either bury them or cover them with dirt,” another driver said.
One aid truck driver told CNN: “It’s like the Bermuda Triangle; no one knows what’s happening in that area, and it seems no one ever will.”
These reports of the Israeli military bulldozing the bodies of Palestinians are not isolated to the Zikim crossing.
During over two years of ongoing genocide in Gaza, the Israeli military has pursued a systematic policy of burying Palestinian bodies in unmarked graves, including near the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) aid distribution sites in central and southern Gaza, under conditions that obstruct identification, conceal burial sites, and prevent families from learning the fate of their loved ones.
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Euro-Med Monitor said Israeli forces repeatedly buried Palestinian bodies in public squares, open land, and areas near vital facilities, including aid distribution centres, hospitals, and schools, after sealing these locations militarily and blocking access by medical teams, families, and residents.
“This practice destroys potential evidence of unlawful killings, obstructs effective investigation, and deprives families of the right to know the fate and burial place of their relatives, in further violation of human dignity and international law,” it added.
The human rights monitor said about 45 people have gone missing in the vicinity of aid distribution centres in the Gaza Strip, and their fate remains unknown, whether they were detained and subjected to enforced disappearance in Israeli prisons or killed and buried in unmarked sandy locations near those centres.
These incidents, the monitor said, reflect a “recurring pattern of deliberate dehumanisation and the use of terror to break the Palestinian population and force submission and displacement.”
“It constitutes further evidence of the specific intent required for genocide under international law, while also being liable to classification as crimes against humanity and full-fledged war crimes.”
The burning and bulldozing also include hundreds of bodies uncovered last year at the Nasser Hospital in southetn Gaza, according to Palestinian authorities.
