Is Israel erasing evidence of alleged war crimes in Gaza? A visual investigation

Is Israel erasing evidence of alleged war crimes in Gaza? A visual investigation

Families tell CBC News the bodies of relatives were in buildings destroyed and cleared by Israel

Satellite imagery shows Israel compacting and removing rubble and debris from Gaza, with possible human remains and potential evidence of war crimes still trapped under it, a CBC News visual investigation of several sites has found.

Multiple destroyed areas in formerly populated areas of Gaza are being cleared, according to CBC's analysis, to make way for new military outposts for Israeli Defence Forces (IDF).

Families in Gaza say this prevents them from retrieving the bodies of loved ones trapped under the ruins.

"Where are the bodies? Where are the houses? Where's the rubble?" said Dalal Faraj, a Palestinian whose home in Gaza City was bombed, after CBC freelance videographer Mohamed El Saife showed her satellite footage of the now-cleared site.

UN officials have raised concerns in recent weeks that Israel is not properly handling rubble — and bodies that may still be under it — left by strikes in the almost three-year conflict sparked by the Hamas-led attacks on Oct. 7, 2023.

In 2024, the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to take measures to preserve evidence of alleged violations of the UN Genocide Convention in Gaza.

"It is Israel's obligation under international law to do everything possible to ensure these remains are found, identified and buried with dignity," said Ajith Sunghay, head of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

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In a statement to CBC News, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said it clears structures and dismantles infrastructure in Gaza "based on tactical necessity" and to "reduce the level of risk posed" to its troops. It says this activity is "carried out in accordance with operational necessity, the provisions of international law, and IDF directives."

The IDF denies any accusations it isn't preserving evidence and recovering remains, saying it "treats every body found in the area with respect and seriousness."

Families that CBC News spoke to say no one contacted them about the retrieval of the bodies before or after the IDF removed the rubble from their homes.

IDF military base built over neighbourhood

"Impossible … This is our area?" Dalal Faraj told CBC News, looking at satellite imagery of her former neighbourhood. "Where did the houses go? Where are my husband and son?"

In October 2023, as the war picked up pace, Faraj left her home in Shuja'iya, a neighbourhood in Gaza City. Her husband, Taha, 48, and son Nasr, 16, told her to take the five younger children and head to a safer location. Taha and Nasr told her they would catch up when they could.

On Oct. 8, 2023, a day after the war started, an Israeli strike hit her home. She hasn't heard from her husband or son since.

The satellite images that CBC's visual investigations team was able to gather show the buildings that once stood in Faraj's neighbourhood are all gone.

As the area was cleared of rubble, a new Israeli military base was built on top of it.

On March 10, 2026, a satellite captured a rubble-clearing operation in the Faraj family neighbourhood. CBC News identified 11 diggers and one truck in the area just north of their home.

A month later, satellite imagery shows four diggers clearing terrain west of the Faraj family house.

Faraj, who now lives with her children in a displacement camp in Gaza, said she's been waiting for years to be able to return to her home to retrieve Taha and Nasr's remains and rebuild. Seeing the pictures broke the last of her hope, she said.

"This area used to be my home. We used to live in a safe place. We would go to school, go out and have fun. Suddenly, this happened," Faraj said.

CBC asked the IDF how many bodies found under the rubble in Gaza since last year's ceasefire have been returned to Palestinians. It did not answer the question.

Destruction of the 'Swedish Village'

Shaher Mohamed Abu Ouda, 36, says 14 members of his family are still missing after the family home in southern Gaza was destroyed.

Abu Ouda lived in a settlement in the Rafah Governorate known as the "Swedish Village." Abu Ouda left the area in 2024, and Rafah was occupied by Israel in 2025.

"Warplanes started shooting at us, then came the F-16s, it shot at the house which we were in," Abu Ouda told CBC. "I left by a miracle."

"Until today, I think about what happened that day," he said. "I thought I would go back and see them, but after all these years, I won't even find a blouse."

Comparison shots of the location of Abu Ouda's home show the rubble was there until at least May 2026. By August, the rubble was gone, with heavy machinery tracks visible.

Footage from May 2026 shows a clearing operation, with six vehicles removing the rubble where the Swedish Village once stood.

The latest satellite imagery from August 2026 shows the neighbourhood completely flattened, with a military base on top of it.

Abu Ouda is not surprised by the satellite images of his neighbourhood, because Rafah has been under Israeli control for years. But the images provided confirmation that he is unlikely to be able to retrieve his family's remains, he said.

"Fourteen people lost their lives and we still know nothing about them," he said. "Even the rubble is not there."

Júlia Nueno Guitart, a researcher at Forensic Architecture, an independent research group tracking developments in Gaza, confirmed CBC's findings. She said her group has collected more than 2,000 similar incidents and managed to confirm 43 cases "where people have remained under the rubble."

"We have been able to do so either by visual evidence, graffiti on the walls of some of the buildings where people remain or by reports from [Gaza's] Civil Defence, where they inform us of the impossibility of retrieving bodies under the rubble," Nueno Guitart told CBC News.

According to Forensic Architecture's findings, the Israeli military is compacting and clearing rubble around newly established military bases even in areas where bodies are still under the rubble.

"What we are seeing after the ceasefire in Gaza is a new type of destruction, different to the one we have been documenting before the ceasefire," Nueno Guitart said.

According to Janina Dill, a professor at Oxford University in the U.K. and an expert on international law, removing rubble and flattening the bombed area is only compatible with international law if the war dead are collected, identified and buried, and if evidence required to prosecute potential war crimes or suppress violations of international law is preserved.

"If [the rubble removal] is done without taking care of these two considerations, then it is absolutely prohibited and incompatible with Israel's obligations under the Geneva Convention," Dill said.

With files from Mohamed El Saife