Doctors from Gaza whose lives are in danger in Israeli prisons

The Palestinian Center for the Defense of Prisoners warned on Thursday against the continued detention by the Israeli occupation of 16 doctors from the Gaza Strip under harsh and inhumane conditions, demanding their immediate release.

In a statement, the Center explained that the detained doctors are subjected to solitary confinement, denial of family visits and communication, ill-treatment, starvation, medical neglect, and harsh interrogation. This is part of a retaliatory Israeli policy targeting Palestinian medical personnel who remained at their posts to perform their humanitarian and professional duty of treating the wounded and sick during the war of extermination.

The Center called for the immediate release of all detained Palestinian doctors, as well as all prisoners, especially the sick, children, and administrative detainees. It considered their continued detention a stain on the conscience of the international community and the institutions that claim to protect medical and humanitarian work.

The Center added that the continued detention of Palestinian doctors cannot be separated from the broader crime being perpetrated against the Palestinian health sector. He emphasized that targeting hospitals and medical personnel, arresting doctors, and depriving them of their freedom and basic rights constitutes a direct attack on the Palestinian community’s right to treatment and life. This reveals a systematic policy aimed at emptying the healthcare system of its effective personnel and punishing all those who have upheld the mission of medicine in the face of war, siege, and collapse.

He pointed out that doctors detained in Israeli prisons are living in extremely difficult conditions, denied visits and communication with their families, and lacking sufficient guarantees for access to treatment, food, and care. This is compounded by a deliberate blackout on their health conditions and the whereabouts of some of them, which exacerbates fears for their lives, especially given the testimonies revealing torture,