GAZA CITY: Israeli forces bulldozed part of a Gaza cemetery containing the graves of British, Australian and other Allied soldiers killed during the First and Second World Wars, according to satellite imagery and witness testimony.
Satellite images of the Gaza War Cemetery at Al-Tuffah, in eastern Gaza City, reveal extensive earthworks in the southern corner of the graveyard. Rows of gravestones have been removed, topsoil is churned up and a large berm of piled earth cuts through the affected area. The damage appears consistent with the use of heavy machinery.
The destruction was not visible on satellite images from March last year but appears clearly in photographs taken on Aug. 8 and Dec. 13.
While vegetation has regrown across much of the cemetery, certain sections remain bare, with mounds of sand and disturbed soil marking the area where graves once lay.
Essam Jaradah, former caretaker of the cemetery, said bulldozing took place outside and inside the cemetery walls.
