The Israel Defence Forces have told CBC News that they dug 20 to 30 metres deep in a Gaza war cemetery where 22 Canadian soldiers are buried in order to destroy a Hamas tunnel.

An IDF officer who spoke to CBC News on background and who was involved in combat operations in the area said he was not able to give any assurance that Israeli forces had taken measures to preserve human remains.

News that the cemetery had been damaged during IDF combat operations was first reported in The Guardian on Feb. 4, but until now it was not clear whether the damage was just to surface structures such as headstones and walls or also included the remains of the dead. Bodies are normally buried at a depth of two to three metres.

CBC News reached out to the IDF for comment. They provided a spokesperson on the condition that they not be named in the story.

Two cemeteries in Gaza hold the remains of Commonwealth soldiers who died over the decades in both world wars and subsequent peacekeeping missions. The main Gaza War Cemetery is in Tuffah district of Gaza City in the north of the Gaza Strip. A smaller cemetery is in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza.