Warning: This article includes descriptions or mentions of sexual violence that may be disturbing to some readers.
The life of Dr. Adnan Al-Bursh stands in stark contrast to the death of the charismatic 49-year-old.
The head of the orthopedic department at al-Shifa hospital in Gaza was working at al-Awda hospital in northern Gaza in December when he and other doctors were arrested by the Israeli army for, according to them, “national security reasons”.
Four months later, Ofer prison guards dragged Al-Bursh and threw him in the prison yard, naked from the waist down, bleeding and unable to stand, according to a statement provided by Israeli human rights organization HaMoked.
Recognizing him, some of the other prisoners carried Al-Bursh to a nearby room and he died moments later.
Probably raped to death.
A doctor. A star surgeon. The embodiment of Palestinian ethics.
Probably raped to death.The racism of the Western media who do not cover this, and of the Western politicians who do not denounce it, as well as the thousand other testimonies and… pic.twitter.com/IRpCSi9nVZ
— Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur, TPO (@FranceskAlbs) November 18, 2024
Entering “Hell”
Dr. Al-Bursh had become a fixture in many people’s lives thanks to the video diaries he posted before his arrest.
His videos showed him and his colleagues, digging mass graves in the al-Shifa courtyard to bury people because Israel would not allow their bodies to be taken to a cemetery, operating on the injured and dying with little or no of equipment, and waiting together for the arrival of the dead. the Israeli assault on a hospital where thousands of people had sought refuge.
The assault took place in mid-November when, in scenes captured by Dr. Al-Bursh, the Israeli army ordered al-Shifa, its patients, its staff and around 50,000 displaced people who were sheltering in the compound to leave the premises.
Dr Al-Bursh went to the Indonesian hospital in northern Gaza where he worked until it also came under fire in November and was transferred to Al-Bursh hospital. Awda.
There, he was arrested and brought into a prison system that the Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem describes as “hell.”
Israel often detains medical professionals like Dr. Al-Bursh in horrific conditions for “investigation.”
“Most of the doctors and nurses (detained by Israel who spoke to PHRI) said the investigation was a ‘fishing’, but they have not been charged with any charges,” said Naji Abbas of Physicians for the Human Rights of Israeli Prisoners. » declared the director of the department.
“Our lawyer visited dozens of health professionals who have still been detained in Israel for many months without charge or fair trial. Most of them have never seen a lawyer,” he added.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza reports that Israel has arrested at least 310 Palestinian medical professionals since the start of the war in Gaza in October 2023.
Many of them reported abuse and cruel treatment, including the use of stressful positions, denial of food and water, and sexual violence, including rape.
“The health workers we spoke with were detained for between seven days and five months,” said Milena Ansari of Human Rights Watch (HRW), whose August report on arbitrary detention and torture of health workers documented the affair.
“Many aren’t even charged, they’re just asked general questions, like: ‘Who is your imam?’ “Which mosque are you going to?” » or even “Are you a member of Hamas?” but without providing any proof,” she said.
Evil becomes worse, becomes “hell”
Accounts of widespread torture and mistreatment of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails have long existed.
However, all analysts interviewed by Tel Aviv Tribune noted two distinct stages in the dramatic deterioration of detention conditions and surge in abuses: first after the appointment of Itamar Ben-Gvir as national security minister in 2022 , then by the explosion of mistreatment of detainees which followed the start of the Israeli war against Gaza in October 2023.
“They don’t care if you’re from Gaza or Jerusalem, if you’re a doctor or a worker – if you’re Palestinian, you’re the enemy,” Shai Parness of the Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem. said.
“It’s brutal and systematic,” he said of a system that B’Tselem’s August report, Welcome To Hell, called a “network of torture camps.”
“It’s not just about violence, humiliation and sexual abuse, it’s everything,” Ansari said.
“Reports of physical and sexual violence were common. Among those who have been physically abused, injuries around the head, shoulders and, in the case of men, between the legs and buttocks are quite common,” Ansari added.
She detailed the case of a paramedic who told HRW he encountered another detainee, bleeding from the anus, and who described how three Israeli guards took turns raping him with their M16 rifles.
“Reduce their rights”
In response to accusations of overcrowding at the Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic security agency, in July, Ben-Gvir bragged about the abominable conditions in his prison system, writing on Minister of National Security, one of the highest The goal I set for myself is to worsen the conditions of terrorists in prisons and reduce their rights to the minimum required by law.
Earlier the same week, he released a video saying: “Prisoners should be shot in the head instead of given more food.” »
“It was bad, it was always bad,” Abbas told Tel Aviv Tribune, “but things got really serious after the appointment of Ben-Gvir. Since October, it’s like another world. It was horrible.
“Before the war, there were hundreds of Palestinian prisoners suffering from chronic illnesses. Today, there are thousands more people in detention, meaning even more people with chronic illnesses are going untreated. »
In July, following the arrest of Israeli soldiers accused of systematic torture and rape at the Sde Teiman detention center, Israeli protesters – including elected politicians – stormed Sde Teiman and the nearby base of Beit Lid to demand the release of the arrested soldiers.
Then writing to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Ben-Gvir called the soldiers’ arrest for rape and torture “shameful,” saying of conditions in his prison system: “Summer camps and patience with terrorists are completed. »
According to a statement made to British channel Sky News by the Israeli army, Dr Al-Bursh was taken from Al-Awda to Sde Teiman.
About a quarter of the hundred detainees at Sde Teiman were health professionals, estimated another detainee, Dr. Khalid Hamouda.
Video. No Comment: Santa Claus is on his way!