It took almost two weeks to confirm the fate of Hind Rajab, a six-year-old girl who called the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) in the last week of January and pleaded for someone to come and get her from the car where she was trapped with the dead bodies of her aunt, uncle, and cousins – all killed by attacks of the Israeli Occupying Forces (IOF).
The PRCS managed to obtain clearance for an ambulance to go into the area but lost contact with the two staff members, Ahmad Al-Madhoun and Yousef Zeino, just as they were approaching the car’s location.
On February 10, Hind’s body was found, decomposing, with those of her relatives. In close proximity to the car, the PRCS found burned remains of its staff and vehicle. Since contact with Zeino and Al-Madhoun was lost right after the sounds of an explosion, the scene left no doubt for the PRCS that they were targeted on purpose, despite being allowed into the area and clearly marked with an ambulance sign.
Read more: Fate of Palestinian health workers kidnapped by Israeli forces remains uncertain
It took even longer for the families, friends, and colleagues of Mohammed Al-Ran, a general surgeon at Kamal Adwan Hospital, to see him again. The physician was forcibly disappeared by the IOF and tortured for 46 days. He was recently released, naked, at the Karem Abu Salem crossing.
The surgeon originally chose to stay back at the hospital with a handful of other health staff and patients as the complex was evacuated. Then, the IOF threatened that they would bomb and destroy the whole hospital if Al-Ran did not surrender to them, recounted Bilal Azzam, a member of the Jordanian Medical Syndicate, during a first round of discussions on the rebuilding of the health system in Gaza.
Immediately after reaching the Israeli soldiers, Al-Ran “was forced to completely undress in front of others (…) and he remained that way throughout the period of detention.” The physician was tied and continuously beaten during transport to the prison. Once there, the IOF “gave him a diaper to wear, very little food,” said Azzam.
He shared detention with other kidnapped Palestinian health workers, including Muhammad Abu Salmiya, the director of Al-Shifa Hospital. Of Abu Salmiya, Azzam said the IOF broke both of his hands and forced him to walk on all fours. “They put a chain around his neck and dragged him in front of people, and when they wanted to feed him, they brought him a plate and told him to eat like a dog.”
Read more: Israel declares war on Rafah, the last safe zone in Gaza
While all Palestinians detained by the IOF are exposed to violence, the torture of health workers is particularly cruel. When Palestinians reach Israeli detention centers, they are essentially divided into two categories, said Azzam: there is the general population, and then there’s the doctors.
“Doctors are abused,” stressed Azzam. The targeting of health workers is intended to break the spirit of the population of Gaza and, even more specifically, to eliminate those who are to play a crucial role in the rebuilding of the infrastructure and social network of the Strip.
Because of that, the news that the IOF has disappeared another 10 PRCS staff members since February 8 becomes even more somber to read. The health workers were taken amid a siege of Al-Amal Hospital that has taken place since January 22, following an incursion into the hospital building during which the IOF tampered with the stocks at the hospital, looted it, and damaged medical equipment.
Among other things, Israeli soldiers damaged ambulances stationed at the hospital and then took their keys, making it impossible for the health workers to reach people in need.
The other key hospital in Khan Younis, Nasser Medical Complex, also remains under siege, and snipers target people moving around the hospital. On February 9 alone, according to reports from Bisan Center for Research and Development and the Palestine Institute for Public Democracy, Israeli snipers killed more than 20 people in the proximity of Nasser Hospital.
Unsurprisingly, a mission planned by the World Health Organization (WHO) to deliver medical aid to the hospital over the weekend of February 10 was denied. This leaves little doubt that the IOF plans to continue its war crimes against healthcare in Gaza as it prepares for a ground invasion of Rafah.
People’s Health Dispatch is a fortnightly bulletin published by the People’s Health Movement and Peoples Dispatch. For more articles and to subscribe to People’s Health Dispatch, click here.
