The Hidden Toll: Israeli War Crimes and the Exploitation of Palestinian Lives

Yasmina Ceric

Heart Icon The Hidden Toll: Israeli War Crimes and the Exploitation of Palestinian Lives


While much of the world remains distracted or willfully blind, I cannot — and will not — look away. As the founder of this organization and a mother, I feel the weight of what is happening to Palestinians, especially children, who are suffering under a brutal occupation that extends far beyond military aggression. Behind prison walls, in the rubble of bombed homes, and in besieged hospitals, a horrifying reality unfolds — Palestinians, including the youngest among them, have been subjected to grotesque violations of human rights, including forced medical experiments and being used as human testing grounds for weapons of war.

Organ Harvesting: A State-Sanctioned Atrocity

In 2009, I was shaken to my core when I read the report from Sweden’s Aftonbladet, alleging that Israel harvested organs from murdered Palestinians. Initially dismissed as \”anti-Semitic propaganda,\” the truth could not be hidden. Dr. Yehuda Hiss, former head of Israel’s Abu Kabir forensic institute, admitted in an interview (made public in 2009) that organs — corneas, skin, heart valves — were stolen from Palestinians without consent during the 1990s.

This wasn’t the act of rogue individuals — the Israeli military confirmed it happened. And though they claim the practice ended in 2000, how do we undo the horror? Palestinians were dehumanized, stripped of dignity, and mutilated. This happened. It’s real. It’s documented. And we must never forget it.

Sources: The Guardian, Al Jazeera, CBS News

Medical Experiments on Prisoners: Human Lives as Guinea Pigs

In 1997, Israeli Knesset Member Dedi Zucker revealed that Israel’s Ministry of Health approved medical experiments on Palestinian prisoners. At least 1,000 detainees — many held without trial — were subjected to tests.

Let me be blunt: non-consensual medical experimentation is a war crime. Calling it \”therapeutic\” doesn’t change the fact that prisoners in cages cannot freely consent. These were human beings, exploited by a state that saw them as tools — not lives. It is a stain on humanity, and the silence surrounding it is complicit.

Source: Washington Report on Middle East Affairs

Gaza: Israel’s Live Testing Ground for Weapons

I cannot erase the images from my mind — children burned alive, bodies torn apart, families erased. Gaza has become more than a war zone. It is a laboratory of death, where Israel has tested weapons like white phosphorus and Dense Inert Metal Explosives (DIME) in crowded civilian neighborhoods.

This is not speculation. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch confirmed it. These weapons were used in 2008-2009, 2014, and 2021, leaving devastation in their wake. This isn’t collateral damage — this is calculated, systematic cruelty inflicted on the world’s most vulnerable.

Sources: Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch

Israel’s Contempt for International Law

The International Criminal Court (ICC) is investigating Israeli war crimes in Palestinian territories, from medical abuse to the use of banned weapons. But Israel rejects the ICC’s authority, refusing to answer for its crimes, mocking international law and the concept of justice.

Under the Geneva Conventions, forced medical testing and disproportionate attacks on civilians are war crimes. Israel’s pattern is undeniable — Palestinians are treated as disposable, their pain as irrelevant, their lives as bargaining chips.

Why This Matters: The Genocide of Innocence

These are not random events — they are the result of systemic abuse and genocide, targeting children, prisoners, and civilians. Palestinian children are dying — not just from bombs — but from the world’s apathy.

I cannot and will not and have not been silent, nor will I ever. I ask you all to join me and other agencies around the world to stop this, and to protect Palestinians from any further abuse and torture. To force Israel to open the crossings to allow aid into a population of over 2 million and nearly 600,000 of those are children. Children that, rather than play in parks or go to school, are being starved, bombed, tortured, imprisoned, and kidnapped by the Israeli military. Prosecuted in military courts with no legal defense and no real charges. I refuse to be indifferent. I and we should stand and call for:

  • Immediate, independent investigations into these atrocities.
  • Relentless global pressure on Israel to end apartheid and face justice.
  • Real, sustained support for Palestinian victims — especially children — through aid, legal action, and global solidarity.

Palestinian lives are not experiments. Their bodies are not battlegrounds. Their suffering cannot be ignored any longer. We owe them our voices, our outrage, and our unwavering commitment to justice.

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Help us to help them. Help us to care for them by providing emergency life saving aid — funds for shelter, transport, and survival. Every contribution matters. Stand with Gaza’s children and families now. Stand with Palestine now. These are real civilians, real people, real children, real women, real families. Being knocked around from place to place with their hope fading, and their options running out.

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