African refugees to Israel report threats of organ theft in Sinai

African refugees attempting to reach Israel have claimed that the Egyptian Bedouin people-smugglers have threatened to steal their organs, unless they or their families paid money, a spokeswoman for a human rights charity said Sunday.
At least 27 refugees have recently made such allegations, the spokeswoman for Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) Israel, Yael Marom, told dpa.
Marom said her organisation had no concrete proof of organ theft however.
But PHR Israel earlier this year published a survey based on interviews with 284 asylum seekers who made it to Israel.
Some 44 per cent said they witnessed violence and/or fatalities of other asylum seekers while they were in the Sinai and the vast majority (88 per cent) stated they experienced severe hunger and food deprivation.
Most (66 per cent) reported that they were denied access to water. And many women have asked for abortions after being raped.