Satellite imagery and witnesses document damage to Allied graves as Gaza killings continue despite ceasefire.
Key Takeaways
- Satellite imagery dated Aug. 8 shows major new damage inside Gaza’s war cemetery absent in March imagery.
- Witness Essam Jaradah says bulldozing occurred in two phases, including inside the cemetery’s Australian-graves corner.
- The CWGC said on Dec. 11 the cemetery sustained extensive damage to headstones, memorials and facilities.
British and Australian Sections
Israeli occupation forces bulldozed parts of the Gaza War Cemetery in al-Tuffah, Gaza City, including areas containing graves of British and Australian soldiers killed in the First and Second World Wars, according to reporting by the Guardian based on satellite imagery and witness testimony.
Satellite images reviewed in the report show severe disturbance concentrated in the southernmost section of the cemetery. The visual evidence points to heavy machinery: rows of headstones cleared away, soil heavily disrupted, and a large earthen embankment cutting through the damaged area.
Satellite Evidence
The report cited satellite photographs dated Aug. 8 showing visible ground alterations. No comparable damage appeared in imagery from March of the previous year, suggesting the bulldozing happened after that point and during the period of Israel’s ground operations in Gaza City.
Two Phases
Essam Jaradah, a local resident who previously cared for the cemetery, said the damage occurred in stages.
He described an initial bulldozing operation outside the cemetery walls, extending roughly 12 meters around the perimeter, an area he said had been planted with olive trees.
He then said a second bulldozing operation took place inside the cemetery, affecting an area of slightly less than one dunum (about 1,000 square meters) — specifically a corner that, he said, contains Australian soldiers’ graves.
Jaradah said he witnessed the aftermath of the bulldozing after Israeli forces withdrew from the area, placing it around late April or early May.
CWGC Statement
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC), which maintains the cemetery, last addressed the site’s condition on Dec. 11, saying it had suffered extensive damage to headstones, memorials, boundary walls, staff facilities, and storage areas.
The CWGC also confirmed damage to memorials and sections, including the British Army’s 54th (East Anglian) Infantry Division memorial, as well as Indian, UN-related memorials, and Hindu, Muslim, and Turkish burial sections.
Satellite imagery cited in the same reporting suggested damage went further. It indicated that two full sections containing more than 100 graves from World War II — most of them Australian, along with some British and Polish personnel — were entirely destroyed.
It also indicated that four sections containing World War I graves were leveled, with CWGC records describing these graves as largely belonging to British soldiers killed during campaigns tied to the control of Palestine from Ottoman forces.
A burial plot located outside the main cemetery area and designated for Canadian UN peacekeepers was described as having been completely erased.
Israeli Response
When presented with the satellite photographs, the Israeli army said the actions were part of “defensive operations” during active fighting.
An Israeli military spokesperson said “the area in question was an active combat zone”, and claimed that operational measures were taken to neutralize threats and ensure troop safety during operations.
The Genocide
The cemetery sits in an area later intersected by Gaza’s so-called “yellow line”, a separation boundary that emerged after the Oct. 2025 ceasefire. Reporting noted the boundary initially cut through the cemetery and was later shifted further west by Israeli forces.
The cemetery damage comes as Gaza continues to face the aftermath of a war that began in October 2023, killing about 72,000 Palestinians and wounding more than 171,000, while destroying roughly 90% of Gaza’s civilian infrastructure. Reconstruction needs have been estimated at around $70 billion.
Despite the ceasefire, killings have continued. Gaza’s Health Ministry reports 574 Palestinians killed and 1,518 wounded since the truce began in October 2025.
(The Guardian, Anadolu, PC)
This is one of many reasons why people who call themselves Jews, but have no semitic blood, are so justly hate and reviled by anyone with a functioning concience. They are the only people in the world who could such a despicable thing and feel absolutely no remorse. May God bring them down for the sake of all mankind.
An Israeli military spokesperson said “the area in question was an active combat zone”, and claimed that operational measures were taken to neutralize threats and ensure troop safety during operations. — history, for Zionists, are a threat that must be neutralized. So, all synagogues, for Christians & Muslims, a threat that must be neutralized. Fine then. There’s the precedent. Modi used that precedent in Kashmir.
Will PM Carney say anything? Minister of Veterans? Canada’s Museum (https://www.warmuseum.ca/)?? No. Nothing …