Jerusalem, 15 September, 2026 (TPS-IL) — The UN’s human rights office on Monday called on Israel to grant international investigators access to all parts of Gaza as recovery of human remains from the territory’s ruins continues nearly three years into the war.
UN rights chief Volker Türk said the discovery of what “appears to be entire families” in sites destroyed by Israeli strikes suggests war crimes may have occurred, warning the remains recovered so far could be “only the tip of the iceberg.”
Türk called for documenting victims and preserving forensic evidence. Israel rejects the accusations and says UN inquiry bodies are politically biased.
Israeli officials say the Gaza War’s civilian-to-combatant ratio is about 1–1.5:1, compared with United States-led operations in Iraq and Afghanistan of estimated civilian-to-combatant ratios between 3:1 and 5:1. United Nations general estimates often place typical modern urban conflicts at 9:1.