Tortured and Humiliated: ‘Israel’s’ Abduction of 160 Gaza Medics
Senior doctors report enduring months of physical abuse as the UN urges the release of those still in detention.
At least 160 healthcare workers from Gaza, including over 20 doctors, remain in Israeli detention, as the World Health Organization (WHO) voiced grave concerns over their safety and well-being.
Healthcare Workers Watch (HWW), a Palestinian medical NGO, reported that 162 medical staff are still being held, among them some of Gaza’s most senior physicians, while another 24 remain missing after being abducted from hospitals during the war.
Muath Alser, HWW’s director, condemned the mass detention of doctors, nurses, paramedics, and other medical personnel as a violation of international law, emphasizing that it exacerbates civilian suffering by depriving them of critical medical care.
“Israel’s targeting of the healthcare workforce in this manner is having a devastating impact on the provision of healthcare to Palestinians, with extensive suffering, countless preventable deaths, and the effective eradication of whole medical specialties,” Alser said as quoted by The Guardian.
Medics suffer from violence and mistreatment
The WHO has confirmed that 297 healthcare workers from Gaza have been detained since the Israeli war began but lacks updated data on how many remain in custody. HWW, however, claims the actual number is higher, stating that 339 Gazan healthcare workers have been taken into Israeli custody.
The WHO expressed deep concern over the treatment of Palestinian medical personnel following reports that Palestinians in Israeli prison facilities have been subjected to systemic violence and mistreatment.
A lawyer representing Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital—whose detention in December sparked global condemnation—recently visited him in the notorious Ofer Prison in Ramallah. According to the lawyer, Abu Safiya reported being tortured, beaten, and denied medical care.
The footage broadcast by Israeli media of our father, Dr. Husam Abu Safiya, the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, is yet another form of psychological terrorism, adding to the torture he has endured over the past two months. It also reflects clear media distortion through the… pic.twitter.com/atwsMv2rZd
— Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya د.حسام أبو صفية (@HussamAbuSafiya) February 19, 2025
The Guardian, alongside the Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism (ARIJ), has collected testimony from seven senior doctors who described being forcibly taken from hospitals, ambulances, and checkpoints in Gaza, transferred to Israeli prisons, and subjected to months of abuse, including beatings, starvation, and inhumane treatment, before ultimately being released without charge.
We remain extremely concerned for Dr Hussam Abu Safiya’s safety. We continue to demand the release of all abducted Palestinian Healthcare workers until they are free. #NotATarget #FreeDrHussamAbuSafiya#FreeThemAll pic.twitter.com/rRpJNh31m6
— irish_hcworkers_for_palestine (@IrishhcwforPal) January 14, 2025
Dr. Mohammed Abu Selmia, director of al-Shifa Hospital, who was held in Israeli custody for seven months, told The Guardian, “Frankly, no matter how much I talk about what I experienced in detention, it is only a fraction of what truly happened.”
“I am talking about clubbing, being beaten with rifle butts, and being attacked by dogs. There was little to no food, no personal hygiene, no soap inside the cells, no water, no toilet, no toilet paper … I saw people who were dying there … I was beaten so badly I couldn’t use my legs or walk. No day passes without torture.”
WHO warns of deteriorating conditions
WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus condemned the ongoing detention of medical personnel, warning of their deteriorating conditions.
The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has also called for the immediate release of arbitrarily detained medical workers and demanded an end to what it described as “enforced disappearances, torture, and other ill-treatment.”
Under the Geneva Conventions, medical personnel are to be protected during wars and allowed to provide care to those in need without being targeted.
OHCHR has previously stated that the large-scale detention of healthcare workers by Israeli forces has significantly contributed to the collapse of Gaza’s medical system. “Those responsible for crimes under international law must be held to account,” said Ajith Sunghay, head of the OHCHR office for the occupied Palestinian territory.
“Health workers, facilities they work in, and patients they care for … must never be targets. In fact, under international humanitarian law, they should be actively protected,” said Tedros.
Two of Gaza’s most senior doctors—Dr. Iyad al-Rantisi, a consultant obstetrician and gynecologist at Kamal Adwan Hospital, and Dr. Adnan al-Bursh, head of orthopedics at al-Shifa Hospital—have been killed in Israeli detention.
The testimonies of detained doctors align with broader accounts from former Palestinian detainees, many of whom have described systemic abuse and torture in Israeli custody.
Earlier this month, an Israeli soldier was sentenced to seven months in prison for abusing detainees—the first conviction of its kind in “Israel”.
