Recent reports reveal Israeli forces’ alleged involvement in the mutilation and theft of organs from Palestinian martyrs’ bodies, sparking calls for an international investigation.
The Government Media Office in Gaza has accused the Israeli occupation forces of handing over 80 mutilated bodies of Palestinians, with vital organs allegedly stolen.
According to the statement, the identities of these individuals remain undisclosed, and the Israeli authorities have not provided information regarding the origin of these bodies or where they were taken from.
The statement condemns these actions as part of a series of atrocities, including the desecration of graves in Jabalia and the retention of numerous bodies from the Gaza Strip.
An independent international committee has been called upon to investigate these severe allegations, including the seizure and organ theft of Palestinian martyrs’ bodies.
The statement also criticises the “eerie silence” of international organisations, particularly the International Red Cross in Gaza, for their inadequate response to these allegations.
The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas said the bodies released by the Zionist army were “in a state of decomposition and difficult to recognise.”
“What the enemy did can only be described as a war crime, a heinous crime, and a blatant violation of the sanctity and dignity of the dead,” it noted in a statement.
“Their barbarism and moral decline are confirmed in their aggression against our people, their assault on the bodies of our righteous martyrs, and the exhumation of their graves.”
Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor reported extensive damage and desecration in several cemeteries across the Gaza Strip, including al-Falujah, Ali bin Marwan, Sheikh Radwan, al-Shuhada, Sheikh Shaaban, and St. Porphyrius Church cemeteries in Gaza City.
These violations allegedly include the destruction of graves and theft of bodies, which initially raised fears of organ theft.
The organisation also reported on November 26 that numerous Palestinian bodies are being held by the Israeli army.
Medical professionals in Gaza have reported missing organs from the bodies, including cochleas, corneas, livers, kidneys, and hearts.
Israel’s history of organ theft
This discovery aligns with a longstanding history of Israel’s inhumane practices regarding Palestinian bodies, including their storage in covert mass graves and subfreezing temperatures, potentially to conceal evidence of organ theft.
Dr. Meira Weiss, an Israeli doctor, has revealed in her book Over Their Dead Bodies the use of organs from dead Palestinians in Israeli medical research and transplants.
Similarly, Yehuda Hess, former director of Israel’s Abu Kabir Institute of Forensic Medicine, admitted to the unauthorized use of tissues and organs from deceased Palestinians.
A 2008 CNN investigation implicated Israel as a significant player in the illegal global trade in human organs, with allegations of organ theft from deceased Palestinians.
Euro-Med Monitor has confirmed these practices, stressing that such actions contravene international charters and agreements and may amount to collective punishment, a violation of the Hague Regulations and the Fourth Geneva Convention.
