Surgeon Warns: Condition of Palestinian Bodies Returned by Israel Highly Indicates “Organ Harvesting”
Gaza (QNN)- Palestinians’ bodies recently returned by Israel appear “highly indicative of organ harvesting,” according to a British-Palestinian surgeon, with Health officials confirming that the bodies also showed signs of severe torture.
Dr. Ghassan Abu Sittah told Al Jazeera he was “sent photographs of the bodies that were received by the Palestinian Ministry of Health from the Israeli army.”
“The bodies show clearly surgically removed lungs, heart, kidneys and liver – done in a professional, surgical way, using sharp bone saws, causing zero damage to surrounding tissues,” he said.
“These bodies also had liquid nitrogen burns on their skin, but no other injuries. It’s unlikely the organs were retrieved post-mortem. All of these bodies belonged to Palestinians whose families said they had been imprisoned alive. So all of this is highly indicative of organ harvesting.”
Abu Sittah noted that “every organ was removed as if ready for transplant.”
Abu Sittah said the photographs were taken on October 17, shortly after Israel handed over 120 bodies.
In an interview with @AJEnglish@AJArabic , Dr. @GhassanAbuSitt1 revealed medical evidence indicating that vital organs — including hearts, lungs, kidneys, and corneas — were surgically stolen by the Israeli occupation from Palestinian martyrs in #Gaza.
He noted that the chest… pic.twitter.com/yu18JeQb7M
What We Know So Far
Abu Sittah’s comments support reports by the Gaza Government Media Office director, Ismail al-Thawabta, who also reported that Israeli forces stole organs from Palestinian corpses and called for an immediate international investigation.
As part of the Gaza ceasefire deal which took effect on October 10, 300 Palestinian bodies have been released by Israel over the past weeks. The bodies showed clear signs of torture and abuse.
Dozens of the freed bodies also remain unidentified.
According to Gaza’s Government Media Office, the bodies showed “conclusive evidence of field executions and brutal torture”.
It said the bodies showed signs of:
Hanging and rope marks on the necks of several bodies
Direct gunfire at close range, “confirming deliberate field executions”
Hands and feet being bound with plastic restraints
Eyes being blindfolded
Being crushed under Israeli tank tracks
Fractures, burns and deep wounds, indicating “severe physical torture”
“We call for the urgent establishment of an independent international commission of inquiry to investigate these heinous crimes and to hold Israeli leaders accountable for the war crimes committed against our people in the Gaza Strip,” the Office said.
Dr. Ismail Al-Thawabta said Israeli occupation forces stole organs from the bodies of Palestinian detainees.
He said dozens of bodies were found mutilated and missing vital parts, including eyes, limbs, and internal organs.
“When we examined the bodies, we found that large parts were missing, there were half bodies, bodies without heads, without limbs, without eyes, and without internal organs.”
Mohammed Zaqout, director of hospitals in Gaza’s Health Ministry, spoke about the “clear signs of torture” found on the bodies.
“One body shows signs of hanging with a rope still wrapped around the neck, blindfolds around the eyes and bound hands. That martyr was placed as is and sent to us,” Zaqout said.
Israeli occupation authorities have been accused of torturing Palestinian detainees. This includes being handcuffed and shackled 24 hours a day, seven days a week – even while sleeping, eating, and using the restroom.
Testimonies also describe regular beatings by guards, extreme overcrowding, humiliation, and inadequate hygiene.
An Israeli reserve soldier exposed lately shocking abuses at Israel’s infamous Sde Teiman military base, describing it as a “sadistic torture site” where dozens of Palestinian detainees from Gaza died under brutal conditions.
The soldier described Sde Teiman as a place where “people enter alive and leave in body bags.” He said the death of detainees was no longer surprising. “The real surprise,” he added, “is if someone survives.”
He stated that Israeli occupation authorities oversee systematic abuse.
According to his account, Palestinian detainees suffered starvation, untreated war wounds, and denial of basic hygiene needs.
“Some urinated and defecated on themselves because they weren’t allowed to use the bathroom,” he said.
In August 2024, the Israeli rights group B’Tselem accused Israeli occupation authorities of systematically abusing Palestinians in “torture camps”, subjecting them to severe violence and sexual assault.
Its report, titled “Welcome to Hell”, is based on 55 testimonies from former detainees from the Gaza Strip, the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem, and citizens of Israel. The overwhelming majority of these detainees were held without trial.
According to the Palestine Center for Prisoners Studies, more than half of the Palestinian prisoners who have died since October 2023, when Israel launched its genocidal war in Gaza, were killed primarily as a result of torture and abuse.
Due to the sharp rise in arrests, particularly among Gazans, Israel has opened new detention and interrogation centers operated directly by its military. According to the center, these facilities have become sites of “systematic torture and mistreatment, in clear violation of international law and human rights.”
Recently-released Palestinians: What They Say?
The freed Palestinians said they were beaten and humiliated, describing the Israeli prisons they were held in as “slaughterhouses”.
Al Jazeera correspondent Ibrahim al-Khalili’s brother, Mohammed, who was held for more than 19 months without charge, described his ordeal as a “big struggle”.
“We were beaten and humiliated. We suffered a lot. But thank God, it’s all over now,” al-Khalili said.
Abdallah Abu Rafe described his release as a “great feeling”.
“We were in a slaughterhouse, not a prison. Unfortunately, we were in a slaughterhouse called the Ofer prison. Many young men are still there. The situation in the Israeli prisons is very difficult. There are no mattresses. They always take the mattresses away. The food situation is difficult. Things are difficult there,” he said.
Another released detainee, Yasin Abu Amra, described conditions in Israeli jails as “very, very bad”.
“In terms of the food, the oppression, and the beatings, everything was bad. There was no food or drink. I hadn’t eaten for four days. They gave me two sweets here, and I ate them,” he said.
Saed Shubair, who was also freed recently, said he did not know how to describe his feelings.
“The feeling is indescribable,” he said.
“Seeing the sun without bars is an indescribable feeling. My hands are free from the handcuffs. Freedom is priceless.”
“It’s an indescribable feeling, a new birth,” said Mahdi Ramadan, flanked by his parents after his release from prison.
Palestinian journalist prisoner Shadi Abu Seed gave a harrowing account of life inside an Israeli prison after his release.
“I went hungry for the past two years. I swear to God, they didn’t feed us. They kept us naked. They beat us while we were naked day and night. We were tortured,” Abu Seed said.
“Until our last day in Israeli prison, they cut us and hit us and abused us. We endured every kind of torture, emotional and physical.”
“We couldn’t even sleep. They threatened us with our children. They told me they killed my children. They told us that Gaza was destroyed. I arrived here and found that everything was gone. It looked like the end of the world. Everything is different.”
“He’s been locked up for 24 years,” said a relative of Saber Masalma, who was arrested in 2002 and sentenced to life in prison.
“He looks like a dead body. But we will bring him back to life,” he said.
According to Palestinian prisoner advocacy groups, every time prisoners are released, the prisoners’ bodies reflect the level of crimes committed against them, including torture that is “unprecedented” in its level after October 7, “starvation crimes, systematic medical crimes, and the infection of a number of them with scabies, in addition to the severe beatings that the prisoners were subjected to before their release.”
