Suspicions of organ theft from the bodies of Palestinians hover around Israel… Details
While official figures estimate around (7,000) missing persons in Gaza, with Israel holding dozens of them, human rights entities expressed concerns on Saturday about suspicions of “organ theft” from their bodies.
The Euro-Mediterranean Observatory for Human Rights called for the formation of an independent international investigative committee regarding the Israeli army‘s detention of the bodies of martyrs from the al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza and the Indonesian Hospital in the northern sector. It also drew attention to other cases of detaining bodies from the vicinity of the evacuation corridor to the central and southern sectors, allocated on the main Salah al-Din road.
The Euro-Mediterranean Observatory stated that the Israeli army also dug up a mass grave set up more than (10) days ago in one of the squares of the al-Shifa Medical Complex and extracted the bodies of the martyrs from it and detained them. It pointed out that while dozens of bodies were released by handing them over to the International Committee of the Red Cross, which took care of transporting them to the southern Gaza Strip to complete the burial process, the Israeli army still holds other bodies.
The Euro-Mediterranean Observatory raised suspicions of organ theft from the bodies of martyrs, including the observation of doctors in Gaza who conducted a quick examination of some bodies after their release, indicating the theft of organs such as the eye cornea and the ear cochlea, as well as vital organs such as the liver, kidneys, and heart.
Doctors working in several hospitals for the Euro-Mediterranean Observatory team said that the apparent forensic medical examination is not sufficient to prove or deny organ theft, especially in light of previous surgical interventions on several bodies. They mentioned that it was impossible for them to conduct a detailed analytical examination of the bodies that were held by the Israeli army under intensive aerial and artillery attacks and the continued influx of the wounded. However, they observed several signs of possible organ theft.
The Observatory also noted that “Israel has a rich history of detaining the bodies of Palestinian dead,” pointing out that the Hebrew state “holds the bodies of at least (145) Palestinians in special refrigerators, in addition to about (255) in numbered cemeteries, and (75) missing persons whose detention is not recognized by their families,” according to the same source.
It added that “Israel, which is considered the only state holding the bodies of martyrs and classified as the world’s largest center for illegal human organ trade, justifies the detention of bodies as an attempt for ‘security deterrence,’ ignoring international conventions that prohibit such actions.
Israeli doctor Meirav Feig revealed in her book “On Their Dead Bodies” organ thefts from the bodies of Palestinian dead to implant them in the bodies of Jewish patients, in addition to using them in Israeli medical schools.
However, the most dangerous aspect of this was admitted by Yehuda Hiss, the former director of the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute in Israel, regarding the theft of human organs, tissues, and skins from dead Palestinian bodies at different times, without the knowledge or consent of their families.
In 2008, the American network CNN published an investigation showing that Israel is considered the world’s largest illegal center for human organ trade, and that it was involved in stealing internal organs from dead Palestinians for illegal benefit.
Doctors and wounded at the al-Shifa Hospital reported on Saturday that the Israeli army, during its siege of the al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City, “attacked medical crews, arrested patients, and stole bodies.”
Meanwhile, Palestinians are trying with their bare hands to search for the bodies of their relatives killed in Israeli airstrikes in various areas of the Gaza Strip during the days of the war, benefiting from a temporary humanitarian ceasefire that entered into force on Friday and lasts for (4) days, extendable.
