The military cemetery in Gaza is located in the al-Tuffah neighborhood in the north of the city, and 3,451 Allied soldiers from World War I and World War II found their final resting place in its graves. The cemetery was originally administered by the Palestinian Hamas in cooperation with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission within the Gaza Strip.
Since the launch of the Israeli campaign in the Gaza Strip in October 2023, the cemetery has been in the hands of Tel Aviv. In early February 2026, the British Guardian website published an analysis of satellite images and witness statements indicating that the Israeli army had bulldozed part of the cemetery before the end of 2025.
Allegedly necessary
In March 2025, there was no trace of earthworks, but they are clearly visible in a satellite image from August 8. The disturbed area is even more evident in a photo of the cemetery from December 18, where excavated gravestones and topsoil can be seen.
"Inside the cemetery walls, specifically in the corner of the cemetery where the graves of Australian soldiers are located, an area of just under 1 dunum," or 0.1 hectares, was leveled by bulldozers, former cemetery administrator Essam Jaradah told the Guardian.
After the Guardian showed satellite images to the Israeli Ministry of Defense, the ministry said that the demolition in the "allied section" of the cemetery was because buildings around the cemetery had been occupied by Hamas soldiers.
"We emphasize that underground terrorist infrastructure was identified in the cemetery and its immediate vicinity, which was located and neutralized by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). IDF activity in sensitive areas is approved by senior army commanders and is carried out with the necessary sensitivity," an Israeli army spokesman told the British daily.
However, satellite images show that only the gravestones in the southern corner of the cemetery, where Allied soldiers were buried, were destroyed. It is also unclear how bulldozers turned Allied graves into fortifications under fire from adjacent buildings.
Neither the Ministry of Defense nor the Israeli army has presented any evidence to support the claim that the destruction of part of the cemetery was necessary. On the contrary, satellite images show that the destruction took place at a time when there was no fighting with Hamas in this part of the city, the Guardian points out.
Shortly after the discovery, the Australian government announced that it would repair dozens of damaged graves of Australian soldiers. While the predominantly British part of the cemetery was only partially damaged, all of the hundred or so gravestones, mostly of Australian soldiers from World War II, were destroyed.
It should be noted that since October 2025, a ceasefire has been in place between the warring parties, under which Gaza is divided by a so-called yellow line running close to the cemetery.
However, despite the truce, the IDF continues to fire on civilians, especially those approaching the yellow line. According to several sources, more than 500 Palestinian Arabs have been killed since the truce was declared, with children accounting for a quarter of the victims.
Similar to Hamas?
According to a document published by Israel, Hamas planned to blackmail London in 2022 into not recognizing the transfer of Israel's capital from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. According to the document, Hamas wanted to threaten to exhume the bodies of allied veterans.
Israel said at the time that the threat of desecration of remains by Hamas was constantly hanging in the air. Paradoxically, however, it was not Hamas but Israel that ultimately caused significant damage to the graves. The soldiers of the First and, above all, the Second World War, whose memory Tel Aviv desecrated, fought on the side of the Allies, who founded Israel after the war.
Let us remember that it is currently unthinkable that any European country would decide to similarly destroy a Jewish cemetery. Tel Aviv has not yet apologized to Britain or Australia for damaging the final resting place of their soldiers.