Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor said on Sunday it had “concerns” about possible organ theft from Palestinian corpses, following reports by medical professionals in Gaza who examined some bodies after they were released by Israel.

The NGO claimed it has documented Israeli forces confiscating dozens of dead bodies from the al-Shifa and Indonesian hospitals in northern Gaza, alongside others in the south.

Medical professionals reportedly found vital organs, such as livers, kidneys and hearts, alongside cochleas and corneas, were missing, which the Euro-Med Monitor called “evidence” of potential organ theft.

They also claimed Israel exhumed and confiscated corpses from a mass grave that was dug more than 10 days ago in a courtyard at al-Shifa.

Israel has previously denied harvesting organs from dead Palestinians without the consent of families, calling such accusations “antisemitic”.

  • Linkerbaan@lemmy.worldOP
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    6 months ago

    For all the people thinking that this can’t happen because of decomposition, israel has admitted to doing did this before until 1990.

    This doesn’t mean that this new accusation is directly proven since it’s an NGO accusation, but it’s certainly not some impossible fairy tale.

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/dec/21/israeli-pathologists-harvested-organs

    Channel 2 TV reported that in the 1990s, specialists at Abu Kabir harvested skin, corneas, heart valves and bones from the bodies of Israeli soldiers, Israeli citizens, Palestinians and foreign workers, often without permission from relatives.

    The Israeli military confirmed to the programme that the practice took place, but added: “This activity ended a decade ago and does not happen any longer.”

    Hiss said: “We started to harvest corneas … whatever was done was highly informal. No permission was asked from the family.”

    • Therealgoodjanet@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      I’m not saying this is or isn’t happening, but they could use the organs for research or students rather than transplantation. In that case it might be interesting to see what a heart looks like after it’s been decomposing for ten days.

      • wahming@monyet.cc
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        6 months ago

        Can you provide a link to their actual claim? Other commentors have stated there’s no such claim on their site

        • Linkerbaan@lemmy.worldOP
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          6 months ago

          I just found the news article corroborated by multiple western sources but I did some additional digging now.

          I found a two week old article the site but not a more recent one. I’m not sure if this is the publication that the news sites based their articles on or if there is a more recent one.

          The conclusion seems to hang on allegations by the hospital director and ministry of health, but the corpses being stolen by the IDF seems pretty weird to begin with. Especially with their past reputation for organ theft.

          Euro-Med Monitor has documented the Israeli army’s confiscation of dozens of dead bodies from Al-Shifa Medical Complex and the Indonesian Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip, and others from the vicinity of the so-called “safe corridor” (Salah al-Din Road) designated for displaced people heading to the central and southern parts of the Strip.

          According to Euro-Med Monitor, the Israeli army also dug up and confiscated the bodies from a mass grave that was established more than 10 days ago in one of the Al-Shifa Medical Complex’s courtyards.

          This recent Aljazeera video does seem to confirm at least 80 stolen bodies being returned

          It would be great if independent journalists were actually able to get into Gaza. The hospital director has invited an independent investigation but of course this gets blocked by israel.

    • Gormadt@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      6 months ago

      Not to mention cause of death and the person’s health before death is really important for the organs as well

      This article just screams misinformation