Palestinian doctor dies in Israeli detention after being arrested from Gaza hospital

Gaza (Quds News Network)- Palestinian doctor Ziad al-Dalou has died in Israeli custody after being arrested by Israeli forces from Gaza City’s al-Shifa Hospital during the ongoing genocide war.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said on Wednesday that al-Dalou, an internal medicine physician, is the third doctor to die in Israeli jails, where widespread torture has killed at least 60 Palestinian prisoners over the past 11 months.

Dalou was detained on 18 March from al-Shifa Hospital, along with dozens of other health workers, when Israeli forces raided the facility in a two-week-long assault.

In June, it was revealed that Dr. Iyad Rantisi, who was the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital’s maternity department, died “under torture” in Israeli custody after he was detained by invading forces from Gaza in November while traveling from northern Gaza to the south with his family, wearing his scrubs, and adhering to the Israeli-designated “safe corridor”.

Dr. Iyad Rantisi

Prominent surgeon and professor of orthopedic medicine Dr Adnan al-Bursh was also killed by torture while in Israeli detention. He was arrested in December from al-Awda Hospital in northern Gaza.

Dr. Adnan al-Bursh

The ministry noted that Dalou was detained while performing his duties at the hospital.

“The ministry condemns this heinous crime against Palestinian healthcare workers,” the ministry said.

“Targeting healthcare workers while performing their humanitarian duty is a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law.”

In a new report published on Tuesday, the ministry said that Israeli occupation forces have killed 1,151 Palestinian health workers during its war on Gaza.

A total of 986 were named in the new report, while personal data for the remaining 165 was still being verified. The ministry said the delay in the verification process was due to Israeli authorities withholding the victims’ bodies or their remains being buried under rubble.

At least 165 of those killed were doctors, 260 nurses, 300 management and support personnel, 184 health associate professionals, 76 pharmacists, and 12 other health workers.

“The Palestinian sector has been subjected to a systematic attack by the occupation forces that has affected all its components,” the ministry noted.

Health facilities were the target of direct and repeated Israeli raids and air strikes, it added, which has crippled the health system and left hundreds of thousands of war victims facing “imminent death”.

Health workers have been arrested, brutally interrogated, and assassinated, it said.

“The data included in this report… reflects the effects of the systematic and deliberate Israeli aggression against the health sector.”

The Israeli military has been accused of deliberately destroying Gaza’s health system through constant attacks on hospitals, ambulances, and doctors, including airstrikes, detentions, and denial of medical equipment, since the start of the war in Gaza on October 7.

More than 300 health workers were arrested by Israeli forces during the assault.

Former prisoners say doctors are singled out for cruel treatment by Israeli forces in detention, where torture and abuse of Palestinian prisoners is widespread and systematic.

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