GAZA, (Palestine Foundation Information Center), Ismail Ibrahim Al-Thawabteh, Director General of the Government Media Office (GMO) in Gaza, affirmed that the discourse promoted by Israel about what it calls its leadership in the field of organ donation cannot be separated from a long and documented record of grave violations against the bodies of Palestinian martyrs.
In an interview with the Palestinian Information Center, Al-Thawabteh stressed that this promotional discourse aims to polish the image of an entity involved in crimes that violate human dignity, in life and in death.
He pointed out that international human rights and media reports issued over years have revealed systematic practices that violate the sanctity of the Palestinian body after death, in clear violation of international humanitarian law and the Geneva Conventions, which oblige the occupying power to respect the bodies of the dead and to refrain from tampering with them or detaining them. He considered that these violations were not isolated incidents, but an organized policy carried out in the absence of effective international accountability.
The GMO Director General noted that Israel continues to detain thousands of Palestinian bodies to this day in what are known as cemeteries of numbers, where bodies are buried without names or markers, and the families of the martyrs are deprived of their natural right to know the fate of their children and to bury them in accordance with their human and religious dignity.
He confirmed that this long-term detention raises serious suspicions about tampering with the bodies and their components, especially in light of Israel’s refusal to allow independent examinations or to open transparent investigations.
Al-Thawabteh warned that treating the bodies of martyrs as a political and security pressure card constitutes a full-fledged moral and legal crime, and reflects a colonial mentality that does not recognize human values or the basic rights of peoples under occupation. He also emphasized that international silence regarding this file, or limiting responses to statements of concern, has encouraged Israel to continue its policies without fear of accountability.
In this context, Al-Thawabteh called for the formation of an independent and transparent international commission of inquiry to seriously and responsibly open the file of body detention and suspicions of organ theft, and to hold all those involved accountable before international justice.
He demanded that human rights and United Nations institutions assume their legal and moral responsibilities, and work to put an end to these crimes that represent a blatant assault on human dignity and the right of peoples to justice, affirming that doing justice to the martyrs begins with revealing the full truth and not allowing it to be concealed behind false propaganda campaigns.
