Mass graves and missing organs: New evidence of human rights crimes of Israel in Gaza

Ismail al-Thawabteh, the head of the office, said on Saturday that the Israeli regime recently handed over 120 bodies through the International Committee of the Red Cross, but the condition of most of these bodies is “catastrophic.”

He noted that the bodies show clear signs of field executions and torture. According to al-Thawabteh: Some martyrs were returned with their eyes, hands, and feet bound, showing signs of suffocation. Some bodies also had ropes tied around their necks.

He added that certain organs, including eyes, corneas, and other body parts, were missing, which he said confirms the theft of human organs by Israel.

Al-Thawabteh called on the international community and human rights organizations to urgently form an international fact-finding committee to hold Israel accountable.

The first stage of the ceasefire between Hamas and Israel began on October 10 under a plan proposed by U.S. President Donald Trump. Under this agreement, Hamas released 20 Israeli captives alive and handed over 10 bodies.

In return, Israel released 250 Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences, 1,718 detainees arrested in Gaza after October 8, 2023, and also returned the bodies of 120 Palestinian martyrs.

Mass graves and withheld bodies

In July, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz revealed that the Israeli army is holding around 1,500 bodies of Gaza residents at the Sde Teiman military camp.

The “National Campaign to Recover the Bodies of Detained Martyrs in Palestine” reported that before the ceasefire, Israel was holding 735 Palestinian bodies in what are known as the “cemeteries of numbers.”

These cemeteries are simple burial sites surrounded by stones, without gravestones. Each grave is marked only with a number, with corresponding files kept by Israeli security agencies.

The same campaign also reported that since the beginning of November, Israeli forces have killed six Palestinian children and teenagers and have refused to hand over their bodies.

According to the organization, the bodies of 73 Palestinian children and teenagers remain in Israeli custody. It added: Shooting Palestinian children has become a systematic policy. As soon as soldiers suspect a child, they open fire.