Dying in ‘Hell’: The fate of Palestinian medics jailed by Israel

Warning: This article includes descriptions aliases mentions of intersexual unit that immoderate readers whitethorn find disturbing.

Dr Adnan Al-Bursh’s life sat successful stark opposition to nan mode of nan charismatic 49-year-old’s death.

The caput of orthopaedics astatine Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital was moving astatine nan al-Awda Hospital successful bluish Gaza successful December erstwhile he and different medics were arrested by nan Israeli service for, they said, “national information reasons”.

Four months later, Ofer Prison guards dragged Al-Bursh and dumped him successful nan situation yard, naked from nan waist down, bleeding and incapable to stand, according to a connection provided by Israeli quality authorities organisation, HaMoked.

Recognising him, immoderate of nan different prisoners carried Al-Bursh to a adjacent room, and he died moments later.

Likely raped to death.
A doctor. A stellar surgeon. The embodiment of Palestinian ethics.
Likely raped to death.

The racism of Western media who are not covering this, and Western politicians who are not denouncing this, together pinch nan 1000 different testimonies and… pic.twitter.com/IRpCSi9nVZ

— Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt (@FranceskAlbs) November 18, 2024

Entering ‘Hell’

Dr Al-Bursh had go a fixture successful nan lives of galore done nan video diaries he posted earlier his arrest.

His videos showed him pinch his colleagues, digging wide graves successful nan al-Shifa gait to hide group because Israel would not fto their bodies beryllium taken to a cemetery, operating connected nan injured and nan dying pinch small aliases nary equipment, and waiting together for nan Israeli battle connected a infirmary wherever thousands had sought safety.

The battle came successful mid-November when, successful scenes captured by Dr Al-Bursh, nan Israeli service ordered al-Shifa, its patients, unit and astir 50,000 displaced group sheltering successful nan compound to vacate.

Dr Al-Bursh made his measurement to nan Indonesian Hospital successful bluish Gaza wherever he worked until that excessively came nether occurrence successful November and he moved to Al-Awda Hospital.

There he was arrested and entered a situation strategy that Israeli quality authorities organisation B’Tselem describes arsenic “Hell”.

Israel often detains healthcare workers for illustration Dr Al-Bursh, holding them successful horrific conditions for “investigation”.

“Most of nan doctors and nurses [held by Israel who said to PHRI] reported that nan investigation was ‘fishing’ for information, but they weren’t accused [of] immoderate charges,” Naji Abbas, Physicians for Human Rights Israel’s prisoners’ section head said.

“Our lawyer visited dozens of healthcare workers who [are] still successful Israeli detention for agelong months without complaint aliases having a adjacent trial, astir of them didn’t ever spot a lawyer,” he added.

The Palestinian Health Ministry successful Gaza reports that Israel has detained astatine slightest 310 Palestinian healthcare workers since nan warfare connected Gaza began successful October 2023.

Many of them person reported maltreatment and sadistic curen including nan usage of accent positions, withholding nutrient and h2o and intersexual violence, including rape.

“The healthcare workers we’ve spoken to person been held for anyplace betwixt 7 days and 5 months,” Milena Ansari of Human Rights Watch (HRW) said, whose August report connected nan arbitrary detention and torture of healthcare workers documented nan matter.

“Many aren’t moreover charged, they’re conscionable asked wide questions, like: ‘Who’s your Imam?’ ‘What mosque do you spell to?’ aliases moreover ‘Are you a personnel of Hamas?’ but without providing immoderate evidence,” she said.

Bad becomes worse, becomes ‘Hell’

Accounts of nan wide torture and mistreatment of Palestinian prisoners successful Israeli prisons are longstanding.

However, each nan analysts Al Jazeera said to noted 2 chopped stages successful nan melodramatic deterioration successful conditions and surging abuse: firstly aft nan assignment of Itamar Ben-Gvir arsenic nationalist information curate successful 2022, followed by nan detonation of maltreatment of detainees that followed nan onset of nan Israeli warfare connected Gaza successful October 2023.

“They don’t attraction if you’re from Gaza aliases Jerusalem, whether you’re a expert aliases a labourer – if you’re a Palestinian, you’re nan enemy, ” Shai Parness of nan Israeli quality authorities organisation B’Tselem said.

“It’s sadistic and it’s systematic,” he said of a strategy that B’Tselem’s August report, Welcome To Hell, characterized arsenic “a web of torture camps”.

“It’s not conscionable violence, humiliation and intersexual abuse, it’s everything,” Ansari said.

“Accounts of beingness and intersexual unit were common. Of those who had been abused physically, injuries astir nan head, shoulders and, successful nan cases of men, from betwixt nan legs and nan bottommost are reasonably common,” Ansari added.

She elaborate nan lawsuit of 1 paramedic who told HRW of having encountered different detainee, bleeding from his anus, who described really 3 Israeli guards had taken it successful turns to rape him pinch their M16 rifles.

‘Reduce their rights’

Responding to accusations of overcrowding from nan Shin Bet, Israel’s soul information agency successful July, Ben-Gvir boasted of nan barbaric conditions successful his situation systems, penning connected X: “Since I assumed nan position of curate of nationalist security, 1 of nan highest goals I person group for myself is to worsen nan conditions of nan terrorists successful nan prisons and to trim their authorities to nan minimum required by law.”

Earlier nan aforesaid week, he released a video saying: “Prisoners should beryllium changeable successful nan caput alternatively of being fixed much food.”

“It was bad, it’s ever been bad,” Abbas told Al Jazeera, “But things became really superior aft Ben-Gvir’s appointment. Since October, it’s been for illustration different world. It’s been horrifying.

“Before nan war, location were hundreds of Palestinian prisoners pinch chronic diseases. Now location are thousands much group successful detention, which intends galore much pinch chronic conditions, who are going untreated.”

In July, pursuing arrests of Israeli soldiers accused of systematic torture and rape astatine nan Sde Teiman detention facility, Israeli protesters – elected politicians among them – stormed Sde Teiman and nan adjacent Beit Lid base demanding nan merchandise of nan arrested soldiers.

Writing to Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu afterwards, Ben-Gvir decried nan soldiers’ apprehension for rape and torture arsenic “shameful”, saying of conditions successful his situation system: “The summertime camps and patience for nan terrorists are over.”

According to a connection fixed to nan United Kingdom’s Sky News by nan Israeli military, Dr Al-Bursh was taken from Al-Awda to Sde Teiman.

About a 4th of nan 100 aliases truthful detainees astatine Sde Teiman were healthcare workers, different inmate, Dr Khalid Hamouda estimated.