The bodies of the Palestinians bear evidence of horrific crimes and organ theft

The Director General of the Palestinian Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip, Munir al-Barsh, called for the formation of independent international commissions of inquiry to investigate the horrific crimes committed by the Israeli occupation against the bodies of Palestinians handed over in recent weeks.

Palestinian media quoted al-Barsh as saying today that the Ministry of Health received 315 bodies through the International Committee of the Red Cross, of which only 89 have been identified. The remaining 182 unidentified bodies were buried in a mass grave due to limited medical resources and the inability to preserve bodies for extended periods. The process of identifying the remaining bodies is still underway.

Al-Barsh stated, “The scenes witnessed by medical teams represent a blatant violation of human dignity and the sanctity of the dead. Some bodies showed signs of torture and being run over by bulldozers, while others were summarily executed by being shot at close range in the head or chest.”

Al-Barsh added: “Some of the bodies arrived headless, or with their hands bound and eyes blindfolded, while others showed signs of meticulous dissection with professional surgical instruments, suggesting organ harvesting. Chests were carefully cut open, from which hearts, livers, and kidneys had been removed, and some had been mauled by trained dogs.”

He explained that the occupation authorities handed over the bodies in inhumane conditions, and that medical teams were forced to use fish refrigerators to temporarily store them, in an attempt to give families a chance to identify their loved ones. He pointed out that hospitals in the Gaza Strip lack sufficient refrigerators and laboratories for DNA testing, as these had been destroyed by the occupation.