Islamabad: More than 160 health workers, including more than 20 doctors, remain in police custody in the middle of abuse and torture reports, aroused international indignation.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has made alarms on detentions, while health workers from Palestinian medical NGOs Watch (HWW) have confirmed that 162 health professionals, including superior doctors, are imprisoned , with 24 other people who disappeared after the Israeli raids in hospitals.
The detainees would have endured violent interrogations, blows and families. Muath Alder, director of HWW, condemned arrests as flagrant violations of international law, warning that they have paralyzed the Gaza collapse system.
“By holding medical staff, Israel denies Palestinians and the worsening of an already catastrophic humanitarian crisis,” said healing.
Since the start of the war, 297 health workers have been held, according to WHO. The testimonies of former detainees, including the director of the Al-Shifa hospital, Dr. Mohammed Abu Selmia, describe a brutal treatment, with blows, the deprivation of food and water and inhuman conditions.
The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (Unoch) called for the immediate liberation of all the health workers detained, qualifying their imprisonment of a war crime. The director general of WHO, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, stressed that staff and medical facilities should be protected by international humanitarian law.
Despite the Israeli claims that workers detained have links with militant groups, the UN and other international organizations have rejected these allegations due to a lack of evidence. Rights defense groups continue to demand responsibility as the Gaza health system collapses under the weight of war and repression.
