ANKARA

The Israeli military has destroyed at least 16 cemeteries in Gaza, US news agency CNN reported over the weekend, citing satellite imagery and social media footage.

The army demolished the graveyards during its ground operation using bulldozers and even extracted some bodies from graves, it said.

Legal experts quoted in the report emphasized that deliberately destroying religious sites like cemeteries and turning them into military targets violates international law, suggesting that Israel's actions could be considered war crimes.

Based on its analysis of the satellite images and videos, CNN said that in other cases, the army appears to have used cemeteries as military outposts, with bulldozers turning several graveyards into staging grounds.

An Israeli military spokesman confirmed to CNN that they had dug up some graves in Gaza, claiming it was done to determine whether Israeli hostages seized during the Oct. 7 cross-border incursion by the Palestinian group Hamas were buried there.

He alleged that the cemeteries were used by Hamas for "military purposes," saying the Israeli military had no other option but to target them.

The Israeli military also confirmed to Anadolu that they opened some graves in Gaza to extract bodies.

They argued that this was done to determine whether Israelis reportedly held by Hamas were buried there and said they conduct sensitive hostage rescue operations in specific locations where information indicates the potential presence of hostages' bodies in response to critical intelligence or operational information.

Israel launched a deadly offensive on the Gaza Strip following an Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, killing at least 25,105 Palestinians and injuring 62,681. Nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack.

The Israeli offensive has left 85% of Gaza’s population internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

*Writing by Alperen Aktas from Istanbul