Medical staff at Nasser hospital say they were blindfolded, detained, and forced to strip by Israeli soldiers.

Palestinian medical staff in Gaza have told the BBC they were blindfolded, detained, forced to strip and repeatedly beaten by Israeli troops after a raid at their hospital last month.

Ahmed Abu Sabha, a doctor at Nasser hospital, described being held for a week in detention, where, he said, muzzled dogs were set upon him and his hand was broken by an Israeli soldier.

His account closely matches those of two other medics who wanted to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals.

They told the BBC they were humiliated, beaten, doused with cold water, and forced to kneel in uncomfortable positions for hours. They said they were detained for days before being released.

An expert in humanitarian law said the footage and the testimony from the medical staff interviewed by the BBC was “extremely concerning”. He said some of the accounts provided to the BBC “very clearly cross over into the category of cruel and inhumane treatment”.

  • AutoTL;DRBEnglish
    6•9 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:

    Palestinian medical staff in Gaza have told the BBC they were blindfolded, detained, forced to strip and repeatedly beaten by Israeli troops after a raid at their hospital last month.

    Dr Abu Sabha, the 26-year-old newly qualified doctor and volunteer medic at Nasser, described some elements of his treatment while in detention as torture, such as making detainees stand for hours without a break.

    In addition, the International Committee of the Red Cross has confirmed to the BBC that it has received dozens of phone calls from people who say family members, including medics, who were at Nasser, are now missing.

    The BBC confirmed that Dr Abu Sabha had an X-ray and sought treatment for a broken hand at a field hospital in Gaza after his detention, and that he arrived there in a cast with a Star of David drawn on it.

    An internal UN report seen by the BBC has described widespread abuse of Palestinians who have been captured and interrogated at makeshift Israeli detention centres since the war began, which are similar to the accounts the medics gave.

    Medics who remained were frightened of being shot if they defied orders not to leave the building, Dr Hatim Rabaa, who also worked at Nasser, told the BBC in a phone call on 22 February, as explosions sounded in the background.

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