Israel 'bulldozed bodies' of Palestinian it killed at Gaza aid sites into unmarked graves
A CNN investigation has revealed that Israeli soldiers bulldozed the bodies of Palestinians killed while trying to access humanitarian aid near the Zikim crossing into northern Gaza.
According to the report, their remains were pushed into shallow, unmarked graves or left exposed for days in areas too dangerous for recovery.
Footage, satellite imagery, and eyewitness accounts reviewed by CNN suggest a pattern of mishandling the dead that legal experts say violates international law.
The CNN investigation drew on hundreds of videos and photos from around Zikim, alongside interviews with eyewitnesses and local aid truck drivers.
Its findings also include testimony that aid seekers were killed by indiscriminate Israeli fire near the crossing.
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Satellite imagery shows repeated bulldozing activity throughout the summer in the same areas where bodies were left scattered.
Two videos geolocated by CNN to Zikim depict the aftermath of the shooting of Palestinian aid seekers in June.
Bodies appear partially buried around an overturned aid truck. CNN also interviewed two former Israeli military members who described similar scenes elsewhere in Gaza, including bodies pushed into shallow graves.
One whistleblower told CNN that when his unit buried nine Palestinians in early 2024, the grave itself was left unmarked.
Additional videos from 11 September show Palestinians fleeing the Zikim area with sacks of flour under heavy fire.
CNN geolocated the footage and identified an Israeli military position that appears to be the source of the shooting. In one clip, at least one person carrying flour falls after being struck from behind.
Robert Maher of Montana State University, an audio forensics expert, analysed the gunfire and concluded the shots came from about 340 meters away, which corresponds to the distance from the identified Israeli military position.
In another video from the same day, Palestinians attempted extract the body of a slain aid seeker and another severely wounded individual while gunfire continued in the background.
Other footage reviewed by CNN shows bodies that were never retrieved because approaching the area was too dangerous.
'Shocked by the scene'
The evidence includes accounts from contractors who tried to work on the aid route. On 15 June, two eyewitnesses told CNN that an aid truck travelling from the Zikim crossing was overtaken by desperate Palestinians.
'I see dead people every time I drive through Zikim… I watched Israeli bulldozers bury the dead bodies'
- Gaza aid driver
The trucks are operated by private local contractors in Gaza who drive supplies into the strip. After the crowd surrounded the vehicle, the witnesses said Israeli forces opened fire. Many people appeared to have been shot and collapsed beneath the truck.
Several days later, civil defence workers were allowed to enter the site. “We were shocked by the scene,” one told CNN on condition of anonymity.
“The (bodies) we recovered were decomposed, they had clearly been there for a while, there were signs that dogs had eaten parts of them.”
Videos geolocated by CNN to the same location show the overturned aid truck, debris and several decomposing bodies partly buried in sand. A dog roams nearby.
The civil defence team retrieved 15 bodies. With the ambulance full, roughly 20 remained.
At least half a dozen truck drivers who worked the Zikim route told CNN about regular encounters with corpses. They described Israeli bulldozers clearing bodies into 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.”
Satellite images reviewed by CNN also showed Israeli bulldozers active around the crossing from mid June, shortly after the aid route opened, until the crossing closed on 12 September.
Some bulldozing appears related to clearing debris. Other activity appears to have no clear operational purpose.
One image from mid June shows a bulldozer pushing a 30 sqm area of soil into a short pile about 400 meters from where civil defence workers later found the overturned truck and decomposing bodies.
The bulldozers were also used to demolish the ruins of buildings where aid seekers had previously tried to shelter from Israeli fire.
'Like the Bermuda Triangle'
On 7 September, as people searched Zikim for missing relatives, two eyewitnesses told CNN they came across what appeared to be bulldozed corpses.
One aid truck driver described the area as “like the Bermuda Triangle - no one knows what’s happening in that area, and it seems no one ever will.”
'Just to see this amount of bodies around you, when you see they’re unarmed, when you see dogs eating them to play with the bones and legs and skull. It’s terrible'
- Israeli whistleblower
The testimonies collected by CNN and by Breaking the Silence, an Israeli veterans group, point to systemic mishandling of bodies across Gaza.
One military whistleblower who served in the Netzarim Corridor told CNN that nine bodies of unarmed Palestinians were left to rot around his outpost in early 2024. Dogs scavenged the remains.
“Our commander asked the D9s, the bulldozers, to cover up the bodies with sand,” he said.
“Just to see this amount of bodies around you, when you see they’re unarmed, when you see dogs eating them to play with the bones and legs and skull. It’s terrible.”
The soldier added that no photos were taken to allow future identification. Breaking the Silence said it has received numerous testimonies about this practice.
Another former Israeli soldier, a captain who served in a Gaza command center in late 2023, told CNN he never received any guidance on how to treat the bodies of Palestinians.
The Israeli and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation on Monday announced the end of its “mission” in Gaza after months of death and chaos.
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GHF had already closed its sites once a ceasefire was reached on 10 October pic.twitter.com/JuS97psB9m
When a corpse blocked a road, his team chose to use a bulldozer to push it into a shallow roadside grave.
“We were never given any protocol or any order of how to handle at all any bodies of either combatant or non combatant that we came across in the war,” he said.
The handling of bodies near Zikim aligns with previous reports from Gaza. Over the last two years, the Israeli military has repeatedly buried Palestinians in unmarked or shallow graves, including hundreds uncovered last year at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, according to authorities there.
Bulldozers have been used to destroy Palestinian cemeteries in several parts of Gaza.
International humanitarian law requires parties to armed conflict to protect the dignity of the dead, allow for proper burial and facilitate identification.
Legal experts told CNN that bulldozing bodies into unmarked graves may violate these obligations.
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