Gaza’s al-Shifa hospital director reports alleged Israeli abuses against Gaza victims’ bodies

Dr Mohammed Abu Salmiya, director of al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza, has revealed what he described as shocking details about alleged violations by Israeli forces against the bodies of people killed during the war and later withheld.

Speaking to Al Arabi TV, Abu Salmiya said medical teams examined bodies that were returned and found them “in a very poor condition”. He added that there was evidence of organs being stolen from victims who had previously been detained by Israel.

He said Israel handed over 66 boxes to the Palestinian side, which were later found to contain only skulls, describing this as a sign of the brutal treatment of the bodies.

Abu Salmiya explained that many of the bodies showed severe mutilation. Some had limbs amputated, including hands cut off deliberately. Others showed signs of suspicious surgical procedures, with abdomens opened and then stitched closed again, which he said strengthened suspicions of organ theft.

He also said some bodies were deliberately disfigured, making it impossible for medical staff and families to identify many of the victims because of the level of damage to their remains.

Abu Salmiya stressed that Israel “knows for certain the identities of the martyrs whose bodies it returned, but deliberately refuses to disclose them to deepen the suffering of their families”. He also said bodies of women had been received, with no information about where they were detained or how they were martyred.

On the issue of missing persons, Abu Salmiya described the situation in Gaza as “catastrophic”. He said estimates suggest around 10,000 people are still missing under the rubble of destroyed homes across the Strip.

A further 5,000 people, he added, are missing, with no information about their fate, and it remains unclear whether they are being detained or were killed in unknown locations.