DaysofPal- A report by Physicians for Human Rights Israel (PHRI) has revealed severe mistreatment of Gaza medical workers detained by Israeli forces. The report details cases of torture, psychological abuse, medical neglect, and inadequate food provisions, raising serious concerns about human rights violations.
According to the Times of Israel, the findings are based on testimonies from 24 detainees who spoke to PHRI lawyers during visits to Israeli military detention centers and prison facilities. Additionally, reports from Israeli sources, testimonies from Israeli doctors who worked in prisons, and statements from Palestinian detainees released from the Sde Teiman facility have confirmed widespread torture and inhumane treatment.
One detainee, a 38-year-old nurse still in custody, described his harrowing experience: “My wrists suspended me from the ceiling, my legs forced backward, and left in that position for hours. They humiliated me, spat on me… During interrogation at Ofer Prison, they extinguished cigarettes on my head and poured coffee over me. I was brutally beaten.”
Dr. Khaled Alser, a 32-year-old surgeon from Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, recounted similar abuse. He stated that after being detained in Gaza, soldiers subjected him and others to physical violence, sitting on them, kicking them, and striking them with rifle barrels. “We begged them to stop, but they continued,” he said.
The case of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in Gaza, has drawn particular concern. The Palestinian Ministry of Health has called for his immediate release, along with all detained medical personnel, urging international health and humanitarian organizations to intervene according to the Wafa news agency, a lawyer from the Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights who visited Abu Safiya at Ofer Prison reported that detainees there face brutal and repressive treatment.
Abu Safiya himself has detailed the torture and abuse he has endured since his detention. His son, Ilyas, stated: “My father was subjected to severe mistreatment and torture by the army in the early days of his arrest and was held in solitary confinement for 24 days. After that, he was transferred to Ofer Prison, Room 24, Section 2.” The doctor has lost approximately 15 kilograms, suffers from an enlarged heart muscle, and has been denied access to a specialist doctor despite repeated requests. He also has chronic high blood pressure but is only receiving minimal treatment.
Human rights organizations have documented that detainees are held in cages, handcuffed, and blindfolded under harsh, inhumane conditions, often deprived of even basic necessities. Last August, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that medical professionals who worked in the facility had corroborated reports of widespread torture, with some acknowledging that detainees were subjected to conditions that violated international law.
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