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”.
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:
https://www.donoralliance.org/newsroom/donation-essentials/what-is-the-time-frame-for-transplanting-organs/
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
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.
This is true, and stranger things have happened in the US of all places:
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/body-alabama-inmate-found-dead-prison-was-returned-family-heart-missin-rcna129737
But in that case, I don’t think you’d apply the word “harvested”.
It’s been claimed by an European NGO so I wouldn’t say it holds as little weight as a US president’s statement.
https://euromedmonitor.org/en
Can you provide a link to their actual claim? Other commentors have stated there’s no such claim on their site
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.
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.