Gaza, July 13 (QNA) - The Palestinian Ministry of Awqaf (Endowments) and Religious Affairs has said that Israeli occupation forces have completely or partially destroyed nearly 40 out of 60 cemeteries across the Gaza Strip during the ongoing genocidal war launched against the territory since October 7, 2023.

Director of endowments in Gaza Mohammad Salem told Qatar News Agency (QNA) today that the occupation is deliberately targeting and desecrating cemeteries under false and flimsy pretexts, an act that constitutes a blatant violation of all religious, human, and ethical norms.

Salem pointed out that the latest violation occurred on Thursday, when Israeli forces committed a horrific crime by exhuming graves and stealing the remains of martyrs and the deceased after storming a cemetery in the city of Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip.

In a scene that defies humanity and disregards all religious and international norms, the Israeli occupation forces raided the Turkish cemetery, located in the Al Mawasi area west of Khan Younis Governorate, using tanks and bulldozers, he said, adding that they leveled and dug up graves and stole the remains of martyrs and deceased individuals, describing the act as savage and criminal.

Salem noted that the cemetery raid coincided with the bulldozing and destruction of surrounding displacement camps, which led to the forced displacement of hundreds of families who had found temporary refuge in those tents amidst the horrors of war, only exacerbating the already dire humanitarian crisis.

The Director of endowments in Gaza stressed that Israeli forces' desecration of cemeteries and the violation of the sanctity of the dead constitutes a breach of all international conventions, which criminalize any desecration of the dead, even in times of war.

He went on to condemn these crimes and emphasized the gravity of such actions.

Salem said that these actions reflect the occupation's moral depravity, which is not content with killing the living but has now started targeting the dead in their graves.

He called on international legal and human rights organizations and the world community to urgently launch an international investigation into the occupation's crimes against cemeteries, urging them to uphold their moral and humanitarian responsibilities, to act immediately to stop the ongoing violations, and to hold the occupation accountable for its crimes against the Palestinian people, both living and deceased and to protect Islamic holy sites and cemeteries in Palestine. (QNA)