The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor raised fears that the Israeli army was detaining the bodies of dozens of Palestinians and suspected theft of organs from them after monitoring information and confessions from the Israeli side, calling for the formation of an independent international committee to investigate the matter.
The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor called for the formation of an independent international investigation committee into the Israeli army’s detention of the bodies of dozens of dead Palestinians, and suspicions of the theft of organs from them.
The Observatory documented the detention of the Israeli army during its war on the Gaza Strip since October 7, dead bodies from the Shifa Medical Complex and the Indonesian Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip, and others from the vicinity of the displacement corridor to the center and south of the Gaza Strip, which it designated on the main Salah al-Din Road.
The occupation army also exhumed a mass grave that had been erected more than ten days ago in one of the courtyards of the Shifa Medical Complex, and extracted the bodies of the dead from it and detained them, according to the Observatory.
He highlighted observations made by doctors in Gaza who conducted a quick examination of some of the bodies after Israel released them, and noticed the theft of organs such as the cornea of the eye and the cochlea, and other vital organs such as the liver, kidneys, and heart.
Israel has a long history of detaining the bodies of the dead, as it detains the bodies of at least 145 Palestinians in special refrigerators, in addition to about 255 in the “cemetery of numbers” and 75 missing persons whose bodies it refuses to admit to detaining.
The Observatory pointed out that Israel relies on detaining the bodies of Palestinians by burying them in what it calls “enemy fighters’ graves,” which are secret mass graves located in specific areas, such as closed military zones, in which burials take place anonymously, with numbers engraved on metal plates attached to the bodies or remains.
A history of organ theft
Euro-Med pointed out that it had previously been observed that the Israeli authorities deliberately released the bodies of dead West Bank residents to their relatives after a period of detention, while they were frozen at a temperature that could reach minus forty, with the stipulation that the bodies not be dissected, which may hide the theft of some organs.
In recent years, Israel has resorted to legalizing the detention of Palestinian bodies and theft of their organs, including a Supreme Court decision issued in 2019 that allows the military ruler to detain the bodies and bury them temporarily in what are known as number cemeteries.
At the end of 2021, the Israeli Knesset enacted legal legislation authorizing the police and army to keep the remains of dead Palestinians.
In recent years, there have been reports of illegal exploitation of Palestinian bodies held by Israel, including the theft of organs and their use in medical school laboratories at Israeli universities.
In her book “On Their Dead Bodies,” Israeli doctor Meir Weiss revealed that organs were stolen from the bodies of dead Palestinians to be transplanted into the bodies of Jewish patients, and used in medical faculties at Israeli universities to conduct research on them.
But what is more dangerous than that is what Yehuda Hess, former director of the Abu Kabir Institute of Forensic Medicine in Israel, admitted regarding the theft of human organs, tissues and skin from dead Palestinians at different periods of time, without the knowledge or consent of their families.
In 2008, the American network CNN published an investigation showing that Israel is the largest global center for the illegal trade in human organs, and that it was involved in the theft of internal organs from dead Palestinians for the purpose of illegally benefiting from them.
The Israeli government is considering approving an “unprecedented” budget to finance the war on Gaza
The Israeli Prime Minister's spokesman announced to the Arab media that the government will consider approving an "unprecedented" budget to finance the war on Gaza worth $8 billion, explaining that the budget will ensure continued economic prosperity.
On Monday, the Israeli government is considering approving an “unprecedented” supplementary budget worth $8 billion to meet the needs of the devastating war it has been waging in the Gaza Strip since last October 7.
Ofir Gendelman, the Israeli Prime Minister's spokesman for the Arab media, said in a tweet on Monday: "Today, an unprecedented budget of 30 billion shekels will be presented to the government that will meet all our military needs in defense and attack, and take care of the families of the kidnapped, the wounded, the dead, and the evacuated citizens."
He added, "The budget will also ensure continued economic prosperity," without providing further details.
In recent weeks, Israeli and international reports have indicated huge effects of the war in the Gaza Strip on the Israeli economy.
The Governor of the Bank of Israel (Central Bank) announced that the costs of the ongoing war may reach 10 percent of the gross domestic product.
Israel has summoned 360,000 soldiers and reserve officers since the start of the war, which costs the government large sums of money, as well as the economy, due to the absence of those serving in the reserve forces from working in civilian life.
Since the beginning of the war on October 7, Israel has also evacuated about a quarter of a million settlers from southern and northern Israel, and the government is currently bearing the expenses of their accommodation in hotels and guest houses.
The Israeli government spends huge sums of money on armaments and financing the war, which prompted Tel Aviv to issue debt instruments worth $6 billion.
For 49 days until November 23, the Israeli army launched a devastating war on Gaza that left 14,854 Palestinians dead, including 6,150 children and more than 4,000 women, in addition to more than 36,000 wounded, including more than 75%. Of children and women, according to the government media office in Gaza.
Since then, Israel has raised more than $6 billion from international debt investors, according to a Financial Times report.