UN urges access for international investigators to Gaza as hundreds of bodies remain under rubble
The United Nations on Tuesday called for international investigators to be given access to all parts of Gaza to help gather evidence, as hundreds of bodies are recovered from under the rubble nearly three years into the war.
Civil defense teams and Egypt Coordination crews search for the bodies of missing Palestinians under the rubble of collapsed buildings in Gaza City, Gaza, Palestine on September 10, 2026. [Saeed M. M. T. Jaras – Anadolu Agency]
The United Nations on Tuesday called for international investigators to be given access to all parts of Gaza to help gather evidence, as hundreds of bodies are recovered from under the rubble nearly three years into the war.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said in a statement that “the remains of what appears to be entire families are now being unearthed at locations that were pulverised by Israeli attacks”, stressing that “the discovery of extensive remains under the rubble in Gaza City resurfaces (the) concerns of war crimes and other atrocity crimes”.
“I worry the remains recovered so far may only be the tip of the iceberg,” Turk added, saying that “much of Gaza has been flattened by Israeli bombing or demolition and clearing by heavy machinery and explosives”.
“Today, many areas in Gaza where the Israeli military is deployed continue to be levelled by bulldozers with no respect for the dead under the rubble,” he warned.
In this context, and to preserve evidence of violations, including at destroyed sites, Turk called for “international investigators to be given access to the territory to help gather evidence”, according to the UN Human Rights Office.
The office also said that “Palestinian authorities say thousands of bodies remain buried under rubble, but Israel is refusing entry to the heavy machinery needed to clear it”.
The UN Human Rights Office said the Palestinian Civil Defence had reported recovering more than 630 bodies, as well as other human remains, from under the rubble of destroyed buildings across the Gaza Strip between November 2025 and September 2026.
It estimated that more than 8,000 people remain missing under the rubble.
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