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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">'Israel' loots Gaza\u2019s ruins to bury its war crimes</h1>
<div class="gmail-credits gmail-reader-credits">Ahmad Zaqout</div>
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<div class="gmail-reader-estimated-time">August 4, 2025</div>
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<div class="gmail-moz-reader-content gmail-reader-show-element"><div id="gmail-readability-page-1" class="gmail-page"><p>As
Palestinians struggle to rebuild from ruins, 'Israel' turns their
destruction into profit, militarizing debris and erasing all trace of
its war crimes.</p><div><ul id="gmail-content-slick-0"><div aria-hidden="false"><li>
<a href="https://alpha-en-media.almayadeen.net/media/image/2025/8/4/ce4fac66-7579-4c17-aa81-fe46b0ff5cf7.jpg?v=3&width=1000" tabindex="0"><img src="https://alpha-en-media.almayadeen.net/media/image/2025/8/4/ce4fac66-7579-4c17-aa81-fe46b0ff5cf7.jpg?v=3&width=1000&preset=w700" alt="'Israel' loots Gaza\u2019s ruins to cash in and bury its war crimes" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img"></a>
Palestinians walk amid the rubble of homes destroyed by the
Israeli airstrikes on Jabaliya, northern Gaza Strip, on Wednesday, Feb.
19, 2025. (<em>AP</em>)
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<p>"Israel\u2019s" war on Gaza has not only been relentless bombardment and
mass killings, but it has also evolved into a campaign of systematic
desecration and plunder. Beneath the surface of visible destruction lies
a more insidious tactic: the large-scale removal of rubble from
obliterated Palestinian homes and neighborhoods, transported to the
Palestinian territories occupied in 1948 under the pretext of \u201cdebris
removal.\u201d</p>
<p>But these actions are far from mere logistical procedures. They serve
layered military, economic, and political objectives, from concealing
evidence of war crimes to deliberately obstructing reconstruction
efforts, and even erasing the <a href="https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/sky-news-reporter--gaza-is-grey-rubble--aerial-shots-risk-ai" target="_blank" rel="noopener">physical memory of entire neighborhoods</a>.</p>
<p>In this context, Gaza\u2019s rubble becomes more than just broken
concrete; it is transformed into a weaponized artifact, stripped from
its origin and exploited as a spoils-of-war commodity. Through this
calculated removal, "Israel" not only deepens Palestinian suffering but
attempts to rewrite the landscape of loss itself.</p>
<p>Though the Israeli entity has provided no visual documentation of
this operation, mounting complaints and growing evidence tell a
different story. Eyewitness testimonies, coupled with satellite imagery,
point to the sudden and unexplained disappearance of vast quantities of
rubble from northern Gaza, Khan Younis, and Rafah. These signs strongly
suggest a coordinated and concealed effort to strip the physical traces
of destruction from Palestinian soil, an attempt not just to clear
debris, but to erase the very evidence of war crimes and collective
devastation.</p>
<p>A recent report by <em>Haaretz </em>reveals that Israeli demolition contractors, operating in coordination with the military, are paid roughly <a href="https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/gaza-flattened-for-pay--not--need---iof-reward-operators-for" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$1,500 for every Palestinian home</a>
they raze. For segments of "Israel\u2019s" economic sector, the war on Gaza
is seen not as a humanitarian catastrophe, but as a lucrative
\u201ccommercial opportunity.\u201d This arrangement underscores what rights
groups call a disturbing collusion between the army and private
profiteers.</p>
<h2>A profitable operation amid suffering</h2>
<p>Speaking to <strong>Al Mayadeen net,</strong> Palestinian first
responder Nouh al-Shanghoubi gave a firsthand account of the
exploitation unfolding on the ground: \u201cIsraeli bulldozers and military
trucks are transporting enormous quantities of rubble from Gaza into the
occupied interior on a daily basis,\u201d he said.</p>
<p>\u201cThe materials are then sorted and processed in Israeli factories,
where they are recycled and sold to construction companies. What we\u2019re
witnessing is not <a href="https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/debris-from-destruction-adds-to-health-crisis-in-gaza--un" target="_blank" rel="noopener">just debris removal</a>,
it\u2019s the industrialized theft of Gaza\u2019s ruins, a massive profit-making
scheme generating tens of millions of dollars,\u201d al-Shanghoubi stressed.</p>
<p>Al-Shanghoubi emphasized that behind each load of concrete lies a
destroyed home, a family\u2019s memory, and a community erased, now
commodified for profit.</p>
<p>He explained that the process follows a disturbing pattern: entire
communities are forcibly evacuated, followed by widespread destruction
through airstrikes or controlled demolitions.</p>
<p>\u201cThen the bulldozers come in and strip the land clean, as if no one
ever lived there,\u201d he stressed. \u201cWe\u2019re only 20 kilometers away from
these areas, and still, Israeli warplanes are tracking our every move.
No one\u2019s talking about it anymore because no one remains to witness or
document what\u2019s happening.\u201d</p>
<h2>Crushing evidence, literally</h2>
<p>Palestinian journalist Wael Abu Omar echoed these concerns, noting a
troubling shift in the visibility of Israeli operations: \u201cWe\u2019re now
seeing crushers working in plain sight,\u201d he said. </p>
<p>\u201cHeavy machinery is being used to pulverize the rubble, everything
that enters is reduced to dust or powder. There is absolutely no
oversight, and no one on the ground has the means or access to document
what\u2019s really happening,\u201d Abu Omar added.</p>
<p>As Israeli machinery grinds Gaza\u2019s ruins into raw materials, <a href="https://english.almayadeen.net/videos/who-s-making-gaza--unlivable" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Palestinians are left sifting</a>
through what remains of their lives. With cement and steel nearly
impossible to obtain, many families have resorted to salvaging fragments
of their destroyed homes, recycling broken bricks, bent rebar, and
shattered tiles in a desperate, defiant effort to rebuild.</p>
<p>\u201cPeople are doing everything they can just to restore a single room,\u201d
Abu Omar explained. \u201cThey\u2019re using broken stones to rebuild, even just a
corner of their homes, as a symbol of resilience.\u201d</p>
<h2>More than just theft</h2>
<p>But Abu Omar warned that the looting isn\u2019t simply about money. \u201cThis is a deliberate strategy to erase <a href="https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/arab-officials-reject-trump-gaza-displacement-plan-in-letter" target="_blank" rel="noopener">evidence of the war crimes</a>
committed here,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s meant to prevent any chance of return
or reconstruction, and to expand 'Israel\u2019s' military grip.\u201d</p>
<p>He concluded with a stark contrast: \u201cTo us, the rubble represents
life, a chance to rebuild. To the occupation, it\u2019s a tool. They use it
to build illegal settlements and to clear sightlines in military zones,
eliminating the tactical cover that destroyed buildings might offer to
resistance fighters.\u201d</p>
<h2>Erasing evidence and forcing displacement: Gaza\u2019s vanishing rubble</h2>
<p>In southern Gaza, the destruction isn\u2019t just visible, it\u2019s strategic.
According to Mohammad al-Haj Youssef, spokesperson for the Civil
Defense in Rafah, "Israel" is deliberately transforming Gaza into an
uninhabitable zone.</p>
<p>\u201cThe occupation is trying to make Gaza a place unfit for life, forcing people to abandon their homeland,\u201d he told <strong>Al Mayadeen net</strong>.</p>
<p>With basic resources cut off and fuel supplies scarce, many families are turning to unconventional means of survival.</p>
<p>\u201cSome households are burning scraps of wood and plastic from their
destroyed homes to cook or keep their children warm,\u201d Youssef explained.
\u201cThe rubble has become a tool for resistance, a means of staying
alive.\u201d</p>
<p>But he warned that more is at stake than survival; the debris itself may hold critical forensic value.</p>
<p>\u201cRemnants like missile fragments, bomb casings, and shrapnel could
serve as material evidence for international investigators,\u201d Youssef
stressed. \u201cThat\u2019s precisely why 'Israel' is so intent on clearing
everything, not just for tactical or logistical reasons, but to erase
the physical proof of its crimes. Every truckload of rubble removed is a
potential war crime buried, a silenced witness that could otherwise
speak in international courts or be exposed by the global media.\u201d</p>
<h2>Looting the rubble: A blow to Gaza\u2019s reconstruction</h2>
<p>Economist Ahmad Abu Qamar sees the rubble not as waste, but as
untapped economic value. \u201cGaza\u2019s debris is part of a circular economy,\u201d
he told <strong>Al Mayadeen Net</strong>. \u201cIt contains valuable materials like cement, steel, and electrical wiring; it\u2019s not conventional trash.\u201d</p>
<p>Estimates from the UN Development Programme and Gaza\u2019s Ministry of Public Works suggest that over <a href="https://english.almayadeen.net/news/environment/-israel--turns-gaza-to-rubble--and-the-planet-pays-deadly-ca" target="_blank" rel="noopener">50 million tons of rubble</a> now cover the Strip. In a functioning economy, such volume could support vital development projects.</p>
<p>\u201cThat amount could be used for port development or coastal land
reclamation,\u201d Abu Qamar noted. Instead, he says, "Israel" has
capitalized on the destruction.</p>
<p>\u201cThis is a double crime,\u201d he said. \u201c'Israel' didn\u2019t just destroy
Gaza\u2019s infrastructure and economy, it turned the debris into a booming
business, establishing recycling plants inside the occupied territories
and using the materials for profitable infrastructure projects.\u201d</p>
<p>According to Abu Qamar, the removal of rubble by Israeli occupation
forces will have severe financial consequences for Palestinian recovery
efforts.</p>
<p>\u201cStealing the debris will drive up the cost of reconstruction by more
than 20%,\u201d he warned. \u201cHad these materials been retained locally, they
could have played a crucial role in easing the burden of rebuilding,
especially amid the severe shortage of cement, steel, and <a href="https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/gaza-lying-in-ruins--14-year-path-to-recovery-amid-mass-disp" target="_blank" rel="noopener">basic construction supplies</a>. Every truckload taken is not just theft, it\u2019s a direct blow to Gaza\u2019s ability to recover.\u201d</p>
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