You don’t generally look at construction equipment and think of it as a tool for genocide, but in occupied Palestine that’s exactly what this machinery is used for.
By Caitlin Johnstone
Caitlin’s Newsletter
Listen to Tim Foley read this article.
Remember how we were always hearing that the official death toll in Gaza is an undercount because there are thousands of bodies trapped under the rubble?
Well, it looks like Israel has been moving those remains along with the rubble, conveniently destroying evidence of genocide.
Drop Site News reports:
“The Palestinian Center for Missing and Forcibly Disappeared Persons has accused Israel of destroying evidence that could identify thousands of Palestinians buried beneath Gaza’s rubble or reveal the fate of those forcibly disappeared.
The center says Israeli forces are moving hundreds of tons of debris each day from destroyed neighborhoods inside closed military zones. Crushing and removing it could pulverize human remains, mix them with rubble and waste, erase the locations of burial sites, and destroy DNA and other forensic evidence.
Around 7,000 Palestinians remain missing in Gaza, including an estimated 4,000 to 5,000 believed trapped beneath the ruins.
“These sites are not merely construction waste,” the center warned. It called for urgent UN and Red Cross intervention, access for rescue and forensic teams, and independent oversight of all future rubble removal.”
?? The Palestinian Center for Missing and Forcibly Disappeared Persons has accused Israel of destroying evidence that could identify thousands of Palestinians buried beneath Gaza’s rubble or reveal the fate of those forcibly disappeared.
The center says Israeli forces are moving… https://t.co/kEKEoyFE5m
— Drop Site (@DropSiteNews) September 6, 2026
Last month, a report by Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor estimated that “at least 10 million tonnes of rubble have been removed, crushed, or moved from their original sites within the areas under Israel’s unlawful military control.”
“In recent weeks, Euro-Med Monitor tracked nearly 100 Israeli trucks daily leaving the Gaza Strip with debris,” the report reads. “These trucks carry rubble to undisclosed sites within Israel and further south of the occupied West Bank. The Israeli authorities have not provided details on the quantities removed, the routes taken, the destination sites, or how the material is utilised. They also have not permitted independent oversight of the sorting, weighing, or transport processes. This lack of transparency makes it very difficult to trace the transported material, identify evidence, or recover any human remains that might be present.”
Euro-Med Monitor notes that this removal occurs while Israel is still under investigation by the International Criminal Court for the crime of genocide, adding that the Rome Statute considers “destroying, tampering with or interfering with the collection of evidence” as criminal acts that hinder the ICC’s justice mission when done deliberately.
In South Africa’s genocide case against Israel in the International Court of Justice, the court ruled that “The State of Israel shall take effective measures to prevent the destruction and ensure the preservation of evidence related to allegations of acts within the scope of Article II and Article III of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide against members of the Palestinian group in the Gaza Strip.”
These obligations are plainly being disregarded as Israel scrambles to cover up evidence of its crimes.
Mass Funeral Held in Gaza for 100 Palestinians, Including 62 Children, Whose Bodies Were Recovered From the Rubble#Gaza #Israel #Palestinians https://t.co/iXJYYC89BY
— Antiwar.com (@Antiwarcom) September 6, 2026
On Sunday, Palestinians in Gaza held a mass funeral for approximately 100 people, including 60 children. These individuals were not killed recently; the mass funeral was held because their bodies had been recovered from the rubble of destroyed buildings in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighborhood.
This is the sort of thing Israel is working to prevent as it clears out the wreckage from its genocidal onslaught.
You don’t generally look at construction equipment and think of it as a tool for genocide, but in occupied Palestine that’s exactly what this machinery is used for. They use it to knock down homes. To bury their victims. To conceal the evidence.
The state of Israel should have a Caterpillar D9 bulldozer on its flag.
Caitlin Johnstone’s work is entirely reader-supported, so if you enjoyed this piece please consider sharing it around, following her on Facebook, Twitter, Soundcloud, YouTube, or throwing some money into her tip jar on Ko-fi, Patreon or Paypal. If you want to read more you can buy her books. The best way to make sure you see the stuff she publishes is to subscribe to the mailing list at her website or on Substack, which will get you an email notification for everything she publishes. For more info on who she is, where she stands and what she’s trying to do with her platform, click here. All works are co-authored with her American husband Tim Foley.
This article is from Caitlin’s Newsletter and re-published with permission.
The views expressed are solely those of the author and may or may not reflect those of Consortium News.
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It’s hard to believe the world stood by while this happened, again.
Caterpillar should have a six point star on its corporate hq and logo.
The evidence cannot be destroyed no matter what. It’s permanently with you and me.
“Hatred is a particular energy that can destroy because it doesn’t have heart, it doesn’t have love, it doesn’t have the sensitivity and the attunement of kindness and gentleness….is a very effective instrument of destruction…But it is effective at the expense of our sensitivity, at the expense of our attunement, at the expense of our awareness and consciousness. It obliterates by removing sensitivity. So it tends to diminish our awareness, to flatten it…hatred is pandemic…we hate others when we feel wronged or frustrated. And what we feel toward others, we inevitably feel toward ourselves…we actually hate our own feelings that we believe are caused by that (other) person. ” Almaas. The Unfolding Now. p.106
The fact that all this is going on, along with the continuing genocide, and the fact that no government in the world is doing anything to stop it, makes me sick and believing that there is no hope for the human race. The horror of it! Even worse is the fact that those of us who condemn it and struggle against it are persecuted and attacked for that condemnation! Every single government that stands aside and allows this absolute EVIL to continue does not deserve to survive.
Facts Only
* The Palestinian Center for Missing and Forcibly Disappeared Persons accused Israel of destroying evidence identifying thousands buried under Gaza's rubble or revealing the fate of forcibly disappeared persons.
* Israeli forces are moving hundreds of tons of debris daily from destroyed neighborhoods inside closed military zones.
* A report estimated 10 million tonnes of rubble have been removed, crushed, or moved from their original sites within areas under Israeli control.
* Nearly 100 Israeli trucks were tracked daily leaving the Gaza Strip with debris to undisclosed sites in Israel and the southern West Bank.
* The removal process risks pulverizing human remains, mixing them with waste, and destroying forensic evidence.
* A mass funeral was held for approximately 100 Palestinians, including 62 children, whose bodies were recovered from rubble.
* The International Court of Justice ruled that Israel must preserve evidence related to genocide allegations in the Gaza Strip.
Executive Summary
Full Take
The narrative centers on the instrumentalization of physical matter—construction debris—as a method for obscuring accountability and erasing evidence of atrocities. The pattern observed is the systematic attempt to decouple material reality from documented human suffering by controlling the physical landscape post-conflict. This action engages with the concept of evidentiary destruction, which carries profound implications under international law; deliberately moving remains or debris functions as an act that hinders justice rather than merely clearing rubble. The persistent claim that evidence cannot be destroyed suggests a deep tension between the immediate kinetic actions on the ground and the legal/historical imperative to preserve immutable facts. This forces an examination of where sovereignty, material reality, and international judicial mandates intersect when state actors control the physical environment. It raises questions about the efficacy of mechanisms designed to ensure accountability when the very medium of evidence is actively manipulated by the state apparatus.
* BRIDGE QUESTIONS: What independent methodologies can be established to track and verify the provenance and handling of debris removed from conflict zones? How can international judicial bodies effectively mandate real-time forensic oversight over material removal operations occurring in active conflict zones? What mechanisms exist to ensure that custodial actions regarding physical remains are entirely separate from state-controlled reconstruction or evidence management processes?
Sentinel — Human
The text blends specific, sourced claims about material removal with strong personal moral argumentation, indicating it is a synthesized piece rooted in an author's perspective rather than objective reporting.