UN urges access for international investigators to Gaza after bodies found
The United Nations is calling for international investigators to be granted access to Gaza to document evidence of potential war crimes. This follows the discovery of hundreds of bodies in the rubble of buildings destroyed during the ongoing conflict.
Why it matters
The recovery of human remains highlights the severe humanitarian crisis and raises critical questions regarding international humanitarian law and accountability in the Gaza conflict.
The United Nations called Tuesday (September 15, 2026) for international investigators to be granted to access to all of Gaza “to assist with evidence-gathering” as hundreds of bodies are pulled from the rubble.
“The ongoing recovery of extensive human remains in Gaza, mostly of women and children, nearly three years after Israel heavily bombed their homes, highlights the possibility that war crimes have been committed,” the UN warned.
“The remains of what appears to be entire families are now being unearthed at locations that were pulverised by Israeli attacks,” UN rights chief Volker Turk pointed out in a statement.
“I worry the remains recovered so far may only be the tip of the iceberg,” he said, pointing to how “much of Gaza has been flattened by Israeli bombing or demolition and clearing by heavy machinery and explosives”.
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