From torture to delivering bodies in pieces, Israel has no shortage of cruelty

The inhumanity with which the Israeli government treats the Palestinian people, it seems, knows no bounds. As if all the brutality of the attacks carried out since October were not enough, recently published reports point to the delivery of bodies in pieces, torture and abuse of prisoners and the desecration of graves.

According to international agencies, Israel returned 89 Palestinian bodies, in a state of decomposition or simply bones, in an “inhumane manner”, according to the government of the Gaza Strip, led by Hamas. Local authorities said they did not yet know the origin of the remains, whether they were from prisoners or taken from graves.

It was also reported that around two thousand bodies had been “stolen” by Israeli forces from cemeteries since the start of the conflict in October last year.

“Over the course of 304 days of genocide, the occupation has seized more than 2,000 bodies of martyrs and dead people from dozens of cemeteries in the provinces of the Gaza Strip, which the occupation has destroyed with bulldozers and military vehicles and turned over their graves, in a scene that violates humanity and human feelings,” said a statement issued by the Gaza Government Press Office.

According to Gaza residents, Israeli soldiers have reportedly dug up graves in the Bani Suhaila cemetery on several occasions.

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On the other hand, Israel says it has “no policy of damaging or desecrating cemeteries.” According to the Rome Statute, which created the International Criminal Court, such desecration is a war crime.

Another recent serious allegation, made by the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem, highlights that Israel has tortured and abused prisoners since the beginning of the fighting. Cases of arbitrary and sexual violence, among other types of ill-treatment, have been reported.

“The testimonies clearly indicate a systematic and institutional policy focused on the continued abuse and torture of all Palestinian prisoners held by Israel,” the organization’s report says. As with other such allegations, Benjamin Netanyahu’s government denies the abuses.

Hunger as a weapon of war

Another cruel fact imposed on the Palestinians by Israeli forces is hunger, which has been used as an instrument of war and pressure in Gaza.

But for Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, blocking humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip is “justified and moral,” even if it means extreme food deprivation and the risk to the lives of millions of civilians.

“We cannot, in today’s global reality, manage a war. No one will let us starve 2 million civilians to death, even if it can be justified and moral, until our hostages are returned,” the minister told Israel Hayom coldly.

With agencies

Editing: Priscila Lobregatte