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. Vegetation has regrown among the ranks of gravestones covering the rest of the cemetery, but the southwestern corner remains bare, with the earth berm casting a substantial shadow over the sandy soil.

Essam Jaradah, the graveyard’s former caretaker, whose home is close by, said: “Two bulldozing operations took place at the cemetery. The first bulldozing occurred outside the cemetery walls, extending approximately 12 metres around all sides of the cemetery. These areas were entirely planted with olive trees.

“Later on, an area of slightly less than 1 dunum [1,000 sq metres] was bulldozed inside the cemetery walls, specifically in the corner of the cemetery, which contains graves of Australian soldiers. The bulldozing covered the area from the bench where foreign visitors used to sit up to the memorial monument. Bulldozers also created sand mounds that were used as earth barriers.

“I witnessed this bulldozing after the Israeli army withdrew from the area, around late April or early May.”

After being shown satellite images of the cemetery, the Israel Defense Forces said it had been forced to take defensive measures in the heat of battle.

“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.”

A spokesperson for the Royal British Legion said: “We are saddened to hear that graves of British and allied personnel who bravely served in the first and second world wars have been damaged. War graves honour the memory of every member of the armed forces who has made the ultimate sacrifice and deserve to be treated with the utmost respect.”

Since a ceasefire agreement in October, Gaza has been split by a “yellow line” marking the boundary between Israeli and Hamas-controlled parts of the territory, which originally ran through the cemetery but has more recently been pushed westward by Israeli forces. Despite the official proclamation of a ceasefire, Israeli troops have continued to fire on the Palestinian population, particularly anyone approaching the yellow line. More than 500 Palestinians have been reported killed since the ceasefire declaration, a quarter of whom have been children.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC), which is responsible for the upkeep of the Gaza cemetery and many like it around the world, last commented on the state of the graveyard on 11 December.

“As a result of the conflict the cemetery has suffered extensive damage to headstones, memorials, boundary walls, staff facilities and storage areas,” the CWGC said. It reported damage to a memorial to the 54th (East Anglian) Infantry Division of the British army, as well as to the Indian UN memorial and the Hindu, Muslim and Turkish sections.

The satellite photos show the extent of the destruction to be even greater. There is no visible trace left of a plot just outside the main cemetery set aside for Canadian UN peacekeepers. Inside the main graveyard two whole sections of graves have been razed, of more than 100 allied soldiers killed in the second world war, the majority of them Australians, with a few British and Polish service personnel. Most had been stationed in Palestine, as it was then, with some serving in field hospitals in Gaza.

Four sections of the dead from the first world war have also been flattened. CWGC records show the affected graves are almost all British, of soldiers drawn from regiments from across the UK, killed as British divisions wrested control of Palestine from Ottoman Turkish troops, suffering high casualties particularly in Gaza.

Prof Peter Stanley, a military historian at the University of NSW Canberra, told the Guardian Australians had “not forgotten” their soldiers’ service in the Middle East.

“The Gaza cemetery is as valued and as cared for as any cemetery in the world: an enormous amount of sentiment and emotion has been invested in maintaining these cemeteries as sacred places,” Stanley said.

“The first need is to stop people in Gaza dying and to provide succour to those who have been starving and suffering for years now: this needs to be kept in proportion. But for Australians, a serious consequence of this conflict is the desecration of the graves of Australian soldiers. That might not be major in the global scheme of things, but it is definitely something Australians should be concerned about.”

Jaradah tended to the graves for 45 years: 35 as an assistant to his father, Ibrahim, and then 10 years in charge. He passed on the responsibility to his son before the start of the current conflict.

“The cemetery was considered one of the most beautiful archaeological sites in Gaza. It contained diverse and beautiful trees and served as a living public space for the people of the Gaza Strip,” Jaradah said.

“I feel a sorrow like that of a child who has lost his mother. Pain and bitterness grip my heart over the cemetery, just as deeply as the pain of losing my home entirely.”