‘Beyond Cruelty’: Israel Military Digs Up Palestinian Graves, Bodies Missing (image-instagram/motasem.mortaja
As days passes by, Israel has slowly now normalized the genocidal violence against the Palestinian civilians. The atrocities of Israel over the innocent Palestinians do not end by their deaths. A report has emerged now alleging that the Israel military has dug up hundreds of Palestinian graves in Gaza using bulldozers and the bodies were taken to unknown locations.
As per the statement released on Saturday, the Gaza government media office stated that the Israel occupation forces dug up 1,100 graves at the Al- Tuffah cemetery, resulting in the “desecration” of the deceased.
The bodies were taken to unknown locations, raising suspicions that organs could be stolen from them, the statement said, reports The New Arab.
Strongly condemning the action, terming it as a ‘heinous crime’, the government of the besieged enclave asserted that the act highlights the brutality of the “immoral Israeli occupation” in Gaza. The government expressed its disappointment over the muting stance of the international community.
Rami Abdu, the director of the rights group Euro-Med Monitor, also alleged the desecration of the graveyard by the Israeli Army.
He wrote on X, “Israeli bulldozers ruthlessly dig and destroyed al-Batish Cemetery, meant for emergencies. Bodies, including my cousin”s, buried recently, are now scattered. It”s devastating not being able to locate my cousin and friends. The disrespect for the deceased is beyond comprehension”.
Israeli bulldozers ruthlessly dig and destroyed al-Batish Cemetery, meant for emergencies. Bodies, including my cousin”s, buried recently, are now scattered. It”s devastating not being able to locate my cousin and friends. The disrespect for the deceased is beyond comprehension. pic.twitter.com/d4p1lJgSyb
— Ramy Abdu| رامي عبده (@RamAbdu) January 5, 2024
The Euro – Med Human Rights Monitor report published on Sunday stated that at least 12 cemeteries in the Gaza strip was deliberately bulldozed, desecrating hundreds of graves and stole dozens of bodies.
From the pre-liminary testimony, one of the cemeteries, Al-Batsh, was targeted on Friday, January 5. The cemetery was established on October 22 to bury the dozens of unidentified dead individuals who were left in the Shifa Medical complex.
“During the Israeli army’s raid last week, Al-Batsh Cemetery was entirely levelled, and its graves were dug up to the extent that the majority of the bodies were removed, dismembered, and looted, along with some of the tombstones that identified the people buried there,” the statement read.
In December 2023, Israel has returned 80 Palestinian dead bodies which were taken from two hospitals in Gaza in the previous month. The medics has found that some of their organs were missing including livers, kidneys, hearts and corneas. The Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor has called that evidence of potential organ theft, reports AJ+.
According to Euro-Med Monitor field documentation, the Israeli army has targeted the majority of the cemeteries in the Gaza Strip, including Al-Fallujah cemetery in the northern Gaza Strip; Ali bin Marwan; Sheikh Radwan; Al-Shuhada; and Sheikh Shaaban Cemetery; in addition to the St. Porphyrius Church Cemetery in Gaza City and Al-Shuhada Cemetery in the northern town of Beit Lahia; destroying dozens of graves in total disregard for the sanctity of the dead.
Israel has clearly violated the sanctity of the dead and of cemeteries by committing such heinous crimes. They have violated the principles of international humanitarian law and the the rules of war in relation to the protection of cemeteries during armed conflicts, including the Hague Conventions and the 1949 Geneva Conventions, says Euro- Med Human Rights Monitor.
Given the abhorrent and unjustifiable international complicity, Israel has not even spared the dead in its genocidal war on Gazans.
This wasn’t the first time Israel was alleged committing “inhuman act”. According to a 2009 report by the US CNN network, Israel has become ground zero for both legal and illegal human organ transactions. The have alleged that Israel has participated in the theft of organs from dead Palestinians for illegal use. But the claim was denied by an Israeli minister, dismissing the allegation, calling it an “anti-Semitic blood libel against the Jewish people and the Jewish state.”
Nevertheless, the Euro-Med Monitor has confirmed that Israel is the only country that systematically holds on to the dead bodies of those it kills, under the pretext of “security deterrence”.
Euro–Med Human Rights Monitor is a Geneva-based independent organization with regional offices across the MENA region and Europe for the protection of human rights.
