Israel 'stealing organs' from bodies in Gaza, alleges rights group

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,
@Linkerbaan@lemmy.world avatar

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.

theguardian.com/…/israeli-pathologists-harvested-…

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.”

prole,

Yikes

BoJo,

yeah idk why people are surprised tbh

jordanlund,
@jordanlund@lemmy.world avatar

This is another one of those stories (like the “40 beheaded babies!”) that seems awfully suspicious. Please don’t take stories like this at face value.

Organs only remain viable for so many hours after death, so the idea of digging up a mass grave for organs seems sus:

donoralliance.org/…/what-is-the-time-frame-for-tr…

Gormadt,
@Gormadt@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

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

BoJo,

if it’s for research it’s perfectly valid to use unhealthy krgans

Linkerbaan,
@Linkerbaan@lemmy.world avatar

It’s been claimed by an European NGO so I wouldn’t say it holds as little weight as a US president’s statement.

euromedmonitor.org/en

GenEcon,

Euro med has a history of spreading pro-Palestine fake news.

wahming,

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

Linkerbaan, (edited )
@Linkerbaan@lemmy.world avatar

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.

BoJo,

can you report this as a top level comments?

Therealgoodjanet,

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.

jordanlund,
@jordanlund@lemmy.world avatar

This is true, and stranger things have happened in the US of all places:

nbcnews.com/…/body-alabama-inmate-found-dead-pris…

But in that case, I don’t think you’d apply the word “harvested”.

Eheran,

“sus” is a very light word for an obviously made up story.

Why people focus on this “40 babies” story is also beyond me. As if it matters if the person was 12 months, 3 years, 8 etc. to begin with.

Not to mention that someone going through that horror, helping victims and seeing brutally murdered people for hours OBVIOUSLY is going to say nonsense. As if that person is somehow unaffected by that. People say nonsense in far less serious situations. I blame this on the media and the people sucking it up (on both sides!).

jordanlund,
@jordanlund@lemmy.world avatar

40 is a special number. So as soon as I saw the claim of 40 I figured something was up with that.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/40_(number)

“The number 40 is found in many traditions without any universal explanation for its use. In Jewish, Christian, Islamic, and other Middle Eastern traditions it is taken to represent a large, approximate number, similar to “umpteen”.”

BoJo,

40 is higher than the number of babies reported in that settlement

it’s literally impossible

queue,
@queue@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

I really detest shit like this, it just gives ammo for defense for horrible people/groups/states. There’s actual horrible crimes done by Israel that should be covered and investigated and punished for. Making shit up allows them to deflect with “Well if the harvesting organs is fake, bombing a hospital must be too!”

Same for Russia, USSR, China, NATO/America, Republicans, Democrats, and so on. When here’s actual horrible things to criticize and use for proof, making shit up doesn’t help anyone but those people who already have an easy time getting away with horrid shit.

theacharnian,
@theacharnian@lemmy.ca avatar

This smells like bullshit.

BoJo,

Israel is milking semen from dead soldiers, this doesn’t seem too far off lol

Mossheart,

Lol wut. Reliable source or shut up please.

BoJo,

m.jpost.com/israel-news/article-773339

haaretz.com/…/0000018b-af34-dea2-a9bf-ffbee147000…

timesofisrael.com/…/health-ministry-cuts-red-tape…

Straight from the mouth of Israel

girlfreddy, (edited )
@girlfreddy@lemmy.ca avatar

I think this is something that has come up before in Nov 2023. Source

Allegations that Israel harvested the organs of Palestinians, based on a true story published 14 years ago, have resurfaced as the nation’s war with Hamas continues.

In 2009, an interview with Dr. Yehuda Hiss—former head of the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute—was leaked. Recorded in 2000 by Nancy Scheper-Hughes—professor of anthropology at the University of California-Berkeley—Hiss said that pathologists at the institute took skin, corneas, bones and heart valves from the bodies of Israeli citizens, Israeli soldiers, Palestinians and immigrants, often without consent from the deceased’s family.

The release of Scheper-Hughes’ recording was in response to an article by Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet. The publication featured interviews with Palestinians who alleged that young men from the West Bank and Gaza Strip were being killed by the Israeli military and their bodies returned with organs missing. Its content was condemned by many leaders and journalists across the world.

“Whatever was done was highly informal. No permission was asked from the family,” Hiss said.

The Israeli military confirmed that organ harvesting took place, but that it ended in the 1990s.

While Israel has attracted attention for alleged connections to wider global organ trafficking this is distinct from the allegations … about the taking of organs from dead Palestinians.

kglitch,

The article claims it's source is Euro-Med Monitor but https://euromedmonitor.org makes no mention of organ harvesting. No press release, blog post or anything.

Lots of other ghastly stuff though, holy shit.

skeezix,

Did you know that Israel is purposely killing crates of kittens?

BoJo,

Check X.

Welcome to the 2023 media landscape

TwinTusks,

Correct me if I’m wrong, but isnt organs are only viable for usage during the very early minutes of a person’s death? For example, if a person is dead for more than a hour, his organ would be useless to another person.

superduperenigma,

I don’t know the exact timeframe, but a 10 day old mass grave is very much outside of the viability timeframe

TwinTusks,

Exactly, so why would anyone need these useless organs? For what usage?

Agent641,

Delicious

jol,

Yes. This is 100% fake news. You wouldn’t use those bodies for dog meat let alone harvesting organs… It’s such a blatant lie that I can’t even tell which side is making it up.

skeezix,

Did you know that Israel has a special military unit just for putting down puppies?

Tarkcanis,

Still useful for research.

BoJo,

not all organs

Organ viability varies

intelshill,

Every claim is a confession

tsonfeir,
@tsonfeir@lemm.ee avatar

They’re not republicans.

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