Dr. Khaled Alsel’s voice was tense as he recalled how Israeli soldiers tortured him and the other medical care had humiliated him.
Their treatment was “designed to humiliate us,” the 33-year-old surgeon said in a volatile online call. “They forced us to make donkey sounds.”
Dr. Arthur was arrested last March at Nasser Hospital in Khan Eunice along with other healthcare workers. They continued to look after them despite attacks at Israeli hospitals in February.
Rights groups say the arrests are part of a deliberate targeting of Israeli healthcare workers, pointing to the arrests of more than 250 Palestinian healthcare workers.
Israel (PHRI), the torture of Israeli medical workers, has catalogued the arbitrary detention and abuse of health workers in Gaza.
Some of the Medics interviewed for the report were caught up in the video below, when she shed tears to her Gaza father.
“You’re a dentist so I’ll cut your fingers.”
Dr. Arcele, an uneven telephone line from Gaza, the sound of the screaming ward behind him, is specific about his detention.
He explained that he was forced by the hospital along with other doctors, nurses and staff, and on March 25 last year he was naked “in public places, in front of soldiers and nearby homes.” It was made.
“Then they put on us in underwear and tied our wrists with a plastic tie.”
Dr. Alcea was questioned twice by soldiers and three times by those who said he came from Israeli security services.
The interrogation was intended to determine whether health workers encountered information that could be supported by Israel in the attack on Gaza, a strict violation of the Geneva Convention protecting health workers.
The questions were always the same.
“[They] I asked about my identity, my work, and what I was doing on October 7th. Where were I and who did you treat? There’s nothing about me,” he said.
Of more than 250 Palestinian health workers (doctors, nurses, paramedics and other important medical staff), more than 150 people were detained in Israel during the war, Phri said. .
Of the 24 healthcare workers interviewed for the NGO report, all said they had not been formally charged or presented with credible evidence against them.
Instead, they were threatened, beaten and humiliated. Meanwhile, they were being asked about the prisoners who were stolen about Israel, the tunnels and anything they might have heard of Hamas’ movements.
One Medic, Dr. KJ, recalled what he was told during the assault. “You’re a dentist, so you block your fingers.”
Another senior surgeon doctor told the NGO that the military dog was set up as detainees while the soldiers looked and laughed. “They bark us like dogs,” he said.
Many healthcare workers testified that Israeli soldiers were sexually and psychologically abused. This leaves you in a stressful position for hours, threats to your family, forced to play “games” or face more assaults.
“On March 28th, the soldiers called me and two other civilian prisoners, who were named at ages 16 and 17,” recalls Dr. Alserr.
“It was night. They tied us together very tightly with our wrists and ankles, and put us in the military car. No one said anything to us. We were on the hills. We drove for about 2 hours. They beat us, kick us, humiliate us.
“They were laughing. I was trying to explain in English that the wrist relationship was too tight, but they said I was a doctor so it was okay.
“Around 4am I heard him say in Arabic, “These three should be hanged.”
“I thought… it was over,” the surgeon said. “I was suffering. They were breaking my ribs. I didn’t care if they said I was being hanged. I just wanted to finish it. ” he said.
Dr. Alserr was not released until late September, and he was reunited with his parents. He is the only care provider.
Overall, he endured more than six months in Israeli detention without guilty. Half of that time was spent incommunicado under Israeli illegal combatants’ law.
Illegal conduct
“This is illegal in many numbers,” Phri’s Abbas told Al Jazeera.
“First, it’s illegal, because you can’t arrest someone for something obviously a fishing mission. Second, healthcare workers are a category protected under international humanitarian law. ”
The abuse and starvation that Israel inflicted on health care workers was “moral and legal anger,” but it seemed like a policy issue.
“There’s no one there. [the healthcare workers] He was either accused of anything or officially charged,” he said. “Others were presented with people identifying themselves as sometimes in military uniforms or as judges on the other side of the phone line.
“I don’t know who these people are,” he said.
“Many of the people we spoke about were victims of sexual violence and humiliation,” recalls Abbas.
“The idea is for soldiers to steal Palestinian men and specifically dignity. Such torture leaves scars. It takes a long time to heal.”
The history of violence
Reports have been long since reported that Israeli forces torture medical workers for intelligence reports, and by legal representatives of Dr. Husam Abu Safia, director of the hospital, Kamal Adwan, who was taken to Israeli forces in December. And it’s ongoing.
Dr. Abu Sapphire’s case, as UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese stated in a November social media post, 49-year-old Adnan Al Barsch “highly likely to die” under Israeli custody. It is similar to the doctor’s arbitrary detention.
Last August, Human Rights Watch on Israel arrested and tortured a Gaza healthcare worker last August, said the issue deserves an investigation by the International Criminal Court.
HRW interviewed several health workers detained by Israel during forced evacuation of medical facilities and highlighted repeated cases of humiliation, assault and forced prisoners to maintain a stressful position. They also reported torture, including rape and sexual abuse by Israeli forces.
“Their status as healthcare workers did not stop the abuse,” said Milena Ansari, an attorney for HRW who worked on the report.
Maybe he’ll be raped and die.
doctor. Starry Surgeon. The embodied ethics of Palestinians.
Maybe he’ll be raped and die.The racism in the Western media that doesn’t cover this, and Western politicians who don’t condemn it, are with the testimony of thousands of other people…pic.twitter.com/irpcsi9nvz
– Francesca Albanese, United Nations Special Rapporteur Opto (@franceskalbs) November 18, 2024
“The surgeons, paramedics, doctors and nurses were all abused. One surgeon told me he was questioned while he was still in his scrub… the soldiers just care. There wasn’t.”
Last year, a report by the United Nations Human Rights Office (OHCHR) said that wholesale detention for health workers was “clear” amidst the lockdown that has so far killed around 60,000 Palestinians. Mitigate the impact of Israeli attacks on the people of Gaza.
Dr. Alcelar paused his five-minute call and there was a crisis in his ward, requiring his attention.
“I hurt deeply,” he said back to the phone.
“I know I won’t be completely healed. I just hide it at work, and by keeping it busy.”
