GENEVA —
Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor has called for an independent
international investigation into suspicions of organ theft, expressing concerns
that the Israeli Occupation Forces are accused of holding the bodies of dozens
of Palestinians killed since October 7.
اضافة اعلان
The
organization has extensively documented the actions of Israeli Occupation
Forces, including the confiscation of dead bodies from medical facilities in
the northern Gaza Strip and near the designated safe corridor for displaced
individuals.
Disturbingly,
reports indicate that bodies were even taken from a mass grave at Al-Shifa
Medical Complex.
While some
corpses were handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross for
proper burial in the southern Gaza Strip, the Israeli army reportedly continues
to retain the bodies of many others. Euro-Med Monitor has raised concerns about
organ theft based on reports from Gaza medical professionals who observed
missing cochleas, corneas, and vital organs like livers, kidneys, and hearts in
some bodies.
Medical
experts in Gaza emphasize the challenges in definitively proving or disproving
organ theft through forensic examinations, given the circumstances of surgical
procedures prior to death and the limitations imposed by ongoing military
operations.
Euro-Med
Monitor points to Israel's historical practice of holding onto the bodies of
deceased Palestinians, with at least 145 in morgues and around 255 in the
secretive "Numbers Cemetery" near the Jordanian border. An additional
75 people remain missing and unidentified by Israeli authorities.
The
Geneva-based rights organization alleges that Israel stores Palestinian bodies
in "enemy combatant graves," covert mass burial sites within closed
military zones, marked only with metal plates.
Disturbingly,
Euro-Med Monitor asserts that Israel has made it lawful to hold and potentially
steal organs from dead Palestinians, citing a 2019 Israeli Supreme Court ruling
and subsequent laws passed by the Knesset. Previous reports indicate that
Israel has kept Palestinian bodies in subfreezing temperatures to prevent
disturbance and potentially conceal organ theft. There have been allegations of
unauthorized use of Palestinian corpses, including the theft of organs for use
in Israeli medical research and transplantation.
Israeli
doctor Meira Weiss and the former director of Israel's Abu Kabir Institute of
Forensic Medicine, Yehuda Hess, have admitted to the use of organs and tissues
from dead Palestinians without their relatives' knowledge or approval.
Euro-Med
Monitor concludes that Israel, as the only country systematically holding the
bodies of those it kills, is a major hub for the illegal global trade in human
organs, violating international charters and agreements.
The
allegations have prompted a call for adherence to international law,
emphasizing the necessity of respecting and protecting the bodies of the
deceased during armed conflicts, as outlined in the Fourth Geneva Convention.
Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor warns that refusal to release bodies may amount
to collective punishment, a violation of international regulations.
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