Human rights monitors and medical experts have condemned the conditions of 120 Palestinian bodies handed over by Israel to Gaza, noting that many of the remains show ‘clear evidence’ of torture and of organ theft.
The Government Media Office in Gaza said that official examinations showed that most of the Palestinian bodies retrieved indicated systematic torture, field executions, and being crushed to death.
The return of the unidentified bodies came in three batches, with 45 bodies handed over on Tuesday, another 45 on Wednesday and 30 on Thursday.
Muneer Alboursh, director general of the Ministry of Health in Gaza, described the bodies in a post on X as being ‘bound like animals, blindfolded and bore horrific signs of torture and burns that reveal the extent of the crimes committed in secret’.
‘They did not die naturally; they were executed after being restrained. These people were not buried underground, they were kept in the occupation’s refrigerators for long months,’ he added.
Graphic images circulating online show decomposing bodies bound with rope and blindfolded, with what forensic reports have identified as signs of physical torture.
Some clips showed Palestinians viewing screens showing images of the corpses, attempting to identify if the bodies belonged to loved ones.
Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor noted that remains released from Israel ‘bore clear marks of hanging, rope imprints around their necks, injuries from close-range gunfire, bound hands and feet with plastic restraints, and blindfolds’.
It added that corpses showed signs of being crushed by tanks, while others indicated that individuals were subjected to fractures, burns, and deep wounds to their flesh.
‘The official, military and media rhetoric that dehumanised Palestinians and normalised their portrayal as a population worthy of extermination created an enabling environment for incitement and acceptance of their killing and torture,’ the monitoring group said.
‘This incitement was mirrored by field practices that escalated into unprecedented brutality, stripping prisoners and detainees of basic protections and leading to arrests, enforced disappearances, torture and executions,’ Euro-Med added, noting that these patterns provide strong indicators of ‘genocidal intent’.
Ismail Al-Thawabta, director general of the Government Media Office in Gaza, also mentioned organ theft by Israel.
‘When we examined the bodies, we found that large parts were missing, many without eyes and without internal organs,’ he told Al Jazeera, adding that there was a high probability that Israel stole these body parts.
The handover of bodies comes under the terms of the ceasefire agreement reached on Friday to end the war on Gaza and exchange prisoners and remains.
On Monday, Hamas released 20 living Israeli captives in exchange for about 2,000 Palestinian prisoners.
The Palestinian movement has since returned seven out of a total of 28 deceased Israeli captives, with the rest expected to be handed over once located and recovered.
In return, Israel has so far released 90 Palestinian bodies it had withheld before, during and after the war. A total of around 400 Palestinian bodies are expected to be returned as part of the exchange.
Over and over again, the Israelis have shown themselves, military and civilians, to be horrific, sadistic murderers. This is more than a PR problem, this is concrete evidence that Israel/Zionism is a threat to the civilized world.
Ed note– agree wholeheartedly with you, but one small addition we’d like to make.
Long before there was this nation state known as ‘Israel’, there were the Jews, who behaved exactly as they are behaving right now. The only difference between now and before was that they did not have a nuclear armed country from which they could engage in their bloodlust and therefore were not as ‘free’ to engage in such business as they are now.
Long before there was Israel, long before there was ‘Zionism’, there was Judah-ism and the people who practiced it, the Jews.