By Emma Farge
GENEVA, Sept 7 (Reuters) - A U.N. expert said on Monday that Israeli clearance of rubble in Gaza could destroy valuable evidence of "atrocity crimes" and prevent the recovery of human remains.
Israel's assault on Gaza — started after the deadly raid into Israel by Hamas in October 2023 — has generated around 61 million tons of wreckage and debris that could take seven years to clear, according to the United Nations.
Francesca Albanese, the U.N. expert on the Palestinian territories, said evidence should be gathered and human remains identified before full clearance started.
She issued a statement headlined: "UN expert warns Israeli rubble-clearing could erase traces of atrocity crimes" and said Palestinians should be behind any plans to remove waste.
"In devastated Gaza, rubble is not just construction waste. It is part of a crime scene, a graveyard, and the material record of what happened during a brutal and senseless bombing campaign that lasted two years,” she said.
She said that multiple sources had confirmed Israeli companies were involved in the clearance, without naming those sources. Her office did not immediately respond to questions on where that information had come from.
Israel's Foreign Ministry, its Prime Minister's Office and military did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In the past, all have fiercely disagreed with Albanese, who has emerged as one of the most vocal critics of Israel's military actions in Gaza.
In February, Germany, France and Italy all condemned what they said were her overly negative statements about Israel, though she denied making the remarks they cited.
In July last year, the U.S. imposed sanctions on Albanese over what it said were her efforts to prompt the International Criminal Court to take action against U.S. and Israeli officials, companies, and executives.
U.N. experts are commissioned by the Geneva-based Human Rights Council to monitor and document specific human rights crises but are independent of the organisation itself.
The 2023 Hamas-led attacks killed 1,200 people in Israel while another 251 were taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.
More than 73,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's military campaign, according to Gaza health authorities.
Israel says it has gone to great lengths to avoid civilian casualties and that Hamas uses Gaza's civilians as human shields in densely populated areas - a claim Hamas denies.
In a statement, Hamas said it appreciated Albanese's warning, and urged that the rubble be removed in a manner that "ensures the recovery of the remains of missing persons and the preservation of evidence."
Palestinian authorities estimate more than 8,000 people remain buried in the wreckage. A Palestinian recovery team that combed through the wreckage in Gaza City last month said it found the remains of 112 people from the same clan.
(Reporting by Emma Farge; Additional reporting by Nidal Al Mughrabi in Cairo and Steven Scheer in Jerusalem; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
