The doctor Mohammed Abu Selmia, head of Gaza's al-Shifa hospital, was held prisoner by Israel for seven months without being charged with any crime.
I'm talking about being beaten with batons and rifle butts and attacked by dogs. There was little or no food, no personal hygiene, no soap in the cells, no water, no toilet, no toilet paper … I saw people dying there. I was beaten so hard that I couldn't use my legs or walk. No day without torture, he says to The Guardian.
Even the media organization Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism (ARIJ) has received testimony from experienced doctors who say they were taken away from Gaza and transferred across the border to Israeli prisons, where they claim to have been tortured for months.
The Palestinian organization Healthcare Workers Watch (HWW) has established that 162 healthcare workers are currently being held by Israel, including some of Gaza's most experienced doctors. The abduction of healthcare personnel from Gaza means further suffering for civilians who do not receive care, according to HWW chief Muath Alser.
Israel's targeting of healthcare personnel in this way has a devastating impact on the provision of healthcare to Palestinians, resulting in extensive suffering, countless preventable deaths, and the effective eradication of entire medical specialties, he says to The Guardian.
