The Government Media Office (GMO) in Gaza has accused the Israeli occupation army of harvesting human organs from the bodies of Palestinians killed during its assault on the Gaza Strip, calling it a “horrific crime” that demands an urgent international investigation.
Ismail Al-Thawabta, the GMO director, said that over the past three days, the Israeli occupation had handed over 120 bodies through the International Committee of the Red Cross. “Most of the bodies were in appalling condition, showing clear signs of field execution and systematic torture,” he said.
Al-Thawabta reported that some corpses were returned with bound hands and feet, while others bore strangulation marks and rope around their necks—indicating extrajudicial killings.
He added that body parts were missing from several victims, including eyes, corneas, and internal organs, strongly suggesting that organs were removed while the bodies were in Israeli custody.
He called for the formation of an independent international investigative committee under UN oversight to hold the Israeli occupation accountable for what he described as “gross violations of the sanctity of the dead,” which constitute war crimes under international humanitarian law.
Violations against human remains are considered grave breaches under the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, which prohibits the desecration or degrading treatment of bodies. Article 130 of the same convention classifies “mutilation or inhuman treatment of protected persons” as a serious breach warranting international prosecution.
This is not seen as isolated misconduct, but rather part of a systematic pattern of killing and organ theft based on national identity—an act that may qualify as genocide under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, especially when committed with the intent of erasing or punishing a specific ethnic or national group.
Before the ceasefire on October 10, the Israeli occupation was holding 735 Palestinian bodies in what are known as “cemeteries of numbers,” according to the Palestinian National Campaign to Retrieve Martyrs’ Bodies.
Additionally, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported in July that the Sde Teiman military camp was storing around 1,500 bodies of Palestinians from Gaza under what rights organizations have described as “inhumane and degrading” conditions.
The continued detention of corpses in mass graves or military camps reflects an ongoing policy of symbolic erasure, aimed at stripping victims of their identities and denying families their basic rights to mourn and bury loved ones. This necessitates activating international forensic investigation mechanisms, as this issue represents one of the gravest forms of human dignity violations.
