DaysofPal – The Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip has accused Israeli forces of systematically dismantling the Palestinian health sector, revealing that 360 medical personnel have been arrested since the beginning of the war in October 2023.
In a statement issued on Sunday, the ministry condemned what it described as “a deliberate and systematic targeting of the Palestinian health sector” and appealed to international bodies to immediately intervene and hold Israel accountable for the ongoing detention and mistreatment of medical workers.
The ministry stressed the urgent need to criminalize the Israeli occupation’s practices and to demand the release of all detained health professionals.
According to the Health Care Workers’ Watch Organization, in Palestine, 71 health workers have been killed in the last two months alone. Among the latest victims was prominent cardiologist Dr. Marwan al-Sultan, director of the Indonesian Hospital, who was killed along with his family in an Israeli strike on July 2.
Just days later, on Sunday, July 13, Dr. Ahmed Qandil, a general surgery consultant at Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital, was killed when an Israeli airstrike targeted a bustling market in downtown Gaza.
These attacks are part of a far larger toll. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that at least 1,580 health care workers have been killed in Israeli airstrikes on medical facilities and personnel across Gaza since the start of the war.
One of the most harrowing individual cases is that of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, a well-known pediatric surgeon and former head of Kamal Adwan Hospital. He was arrested when Israeli forces stormed the hospital on December 28, 2024.
His lawyer, Ghadeer Ghanem Qassem, revealed in a Facebook post that Dr. Abu Safiya is in grave condition. As of July 9, he had lost more than 40 kilograms, over a third of his body weight, since his detention, reportedly due to severe mistreatment and beatings.
“At the beginning of his detention, he weighed 100 kilograms. Today, he weighs no more than 60,” Qassem wrote, adding that he was beaten severely on June 24.
Palestinian officials and rights groups warn that these acts form part of a broader policy aimed at dismantling essential civil infrastructure in Gaza, particularly in the health sector, which is on the brink of collapse under the weight of ongoing military attacks, blockade, and now the targeted arrests and killings of its personnel.
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