Guardian buries journalism in report on Gaza graves

The Guardian engaged in more anti-Israel propaganda under the veneer of journalism on Wednesday when editors placed a sensationalist and grossly misleading article on their home page that was one-sided, ideologically-driven and designed to fuel the passions of their radical antizionist base.

In short, the article, (Israel bulldozed part of Gaza cemetery containing allied graves”, Feb. 4), by Seham Tantesh, Julian Borger, and Ben Doherty, falsely frames a battle between Hamas and Israel around a cemetery – and the destruction of a terror tunnel running underneath the graves – as the IDF’s wanton desecration of an allied grave site.

The Guardian article begins, thusly:

Israeli forces have bulldozed part of a Gaza cemetery containing the war graves of dozens of British, Australian and other allied soldiers killed in the first and second world wars, satellite imagery and witness testimony reveal.

Satellite imagery of the Gaza war cemetery in al-Tuffah, a district of Gaza City, shows extensive earthworks in the southernmost corner of the graveyard. Bomb craters can be seen around the cemetery, but in this area the destruction appears to have been more systematic.

Rows of gravestones have been removed, the topsoil has been churned up and a substantial earth berm can be seen running across the middle of the affected area. It is of a size that suggests the use of heavy equipment.

There was no sign of the earthworks in March last year, but they are clearly visible in a satellite picture from 8 August. The disturbed area is even more apparent in an image of the cemetery from 13 December.

The most intuitive explanation for the IDF’s actions – that the cemetery was the site of a battle between Hamas and the IDF, or that it was being used by terrorists for military purposes – isn’t alluded to anywhere in the article by the Guardian journalists in their own voice.

Further, it’s not until the 9th and 10th paragraphs down that comments from the IDF spokesperson on the allegations are provided:

“At the relevant time, the area in question was an active combat zone,” an army spokesperson said. “During IDF operations in the area, terrorists attempted to attack IDF troops and took cover in structures close to the cemetery. In response, to ensure the safety of IDF troops operating on the ground, operational measures were taken in the area to neutralise identified threats.”

The spokesperson added: “We emphasise that underground terrorist infrastructure was identified within the cemetery and in its surrounding area, which the IDF located and dismantled. IDF activity in sensitive areas is approved by senior ranks in the army and handled with the required sensitivity needed.”

Rather than exploring and investigating Hamas’ role in the destruction around the cemetery, like professional journalists would do, the terror group’s role is ignored throughout the rest of the article.

Instead, the remaining paragraphs consist of quotes from Royal British Legion, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, and Essam Jaradah, the graveyard’s former caretaker, lamenting the damage to allied graves – all of which is premised on the assumption that the IDF, for no particular reason, decided to destroy and desecrate the sacred site.

In fact, the word “Hamas” is only used once in the entire 1,366 word piece, and, even then, it’s in a throw-away sentence unrelated to cemetery destruction.  Further, of the article’s twenty-two paragraphs, only two include any information suggesting that Israel may not be to blame.

However, in addition to the fact that the article is another example of the Guardian publishing a report with a pre-determined anti-Israel conclusion, independent researcher Salo Aizenberg – in an X thread – provided key context and information that any serious journalist could have just as easily provided.

For instance, in August 2025, Aizenberg shows, the IDF destroyed a km long Hamas tunnel adjacent to the cemetery in question, an area which was geolocated to confirm the demolition occurred where the damage the Guardian highlights is found.

Additionally, he shows, the IDF revealed photos of rocket launchers placed in the same cemetery, and noted that combat with Hamas took place there as well.

All of the evidence showing Hamas exploiting the cemetery was open-source information available to Guardian reporters if they cared at all about producing an accurate report.

Moreover, the Daily Mail reported on the same story in November, 2025, three months prior to the Guardian exposé.

Unlike the Guardian, however, the Mail opened its own exclusive, titled “Graves badly damaged after Israel bombs Hamas supply tunnel next to British war cemetery”, by reporting that “Hamas used the last resting place of hundreds of British soldiers in Gaza to store weaponry for its war with Israel”. The piece went on to clarify that the “weapons were found after the IDF destroyed a Hamas supply tunnel near the [Commonwealth Gaza War Cemetery]”.

Indeed, other instances of the terror group’s use of cemeteries for military purposes, and to bury the bodies of hostages they murdered, were reported earlier in the war.  For instance, on Jan. 24, 2024, Israeli soldiers discovered an underground tunnel running beneath the Bani Suheila cemetery in Khan Yunis.

Finally, unburdened by the ethical requirements of their profession, the Guardian published a second article three days later about the allied graves (“Her father’s war grave in Gaza was bulldozed by Israel. Amid the grief and anger, she wants answers”, Feb. 7).

The piece, by Ben Doherty and Christopher Knaus, about an Australian woman, named Wilma Spence, whose father was buried in the Gaza allied cemetery, doesn’t use the word “Hamas” once.

Further, after citing the IDF statement about the terror group’s responsibility for the destruction, readers are presented with the views of Spence dismissing their denial, stating “They [Israel’s government] have no respect for the living, so why would they respect the dead?”.

It naturally didn’t occur to the Guardian authors that the quote by their protagonist represents an extraordinary moral inversion, as its Hamas pogromists who, since the morning of Oct. 7, 2023, have displayed a level of (Trigger Warning) barbarism and pathological disregard for human life that would, to journalists at a normal Western outlet, render them the party most likely to desecrate sacred spaces.

Their two allied cemetery stories, indeed, represent an apt illustration of the outlet’s broader post-Oct. 7 coverage: providing succor for the Palestinian perpetrators of the worst antisemitic atrocity since the Holocaust while doubling down on their hatred of the victims.

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