Jerusalem — Israeli Army Destroying medical facilities in Gaza health Care System Fourteen doctors and two nurses there told NBC News that they all agreed to participate in the campaign. Detention and murder of medical staff At work or at home.
The Israeli military said medical facilities Gaza It is used as a base of operations HamasBut either way, the scene is tragic.
A photo obtained by NBC News shows Israeli soldiers with rifles at the ready. Al Khair Hospital People stand up and raise their hands. Nasser HospitalVideo shows tanks driving through the streets and the sounds of automatic rifle fire as Israeli forces stormed the compound on February 14, plunging the compound’s corridors into smoke, debris and chaos.
“They attacked the orthopedic clinic, killing and wounding patients,” said Dr. Ahmed Almograbi, a plastic surgeon who witnessed the attack and later fled Gaza for Egypt, citing fears for his children.
“I had only two options: They could either kill us or they could take us into custody, and both options are very bad,” he told NBC News.
He said most of his remaining colleagues at the hospital are now in prison, while others, including reconstructive surgeon Dr Ahmed Maqadmeh, were killed inside Al Shifa hospital.
Some were targeted in their own homes, Almograbi said. He cited the case of Dr. Hammam Alo, the exclave’s only nephrologist, who he said was “killed within 30 minutes of returning home,” adding that Dr. Medhat Sayydam, the hospital’s senior plastic and reconstructive surgeon, was also killed. Al Shifa Hospitalwas killed in an attack on his family home about 30 minutes after returning home with his sister.
All 16 medical workers interviewed by NBC News said they believe the Israeli military is deliberately attacking medical facilities and targeting doctors.
At least 50 professional doctors, including some of Gaza’s most experienced, have been killed since Israel began its offensive. Hamas’ October 7 terror attacks According to a list released by the Gaza Health Ministry on July 4 and an interview with NBC News, there have been a series of attacks and hostage situations. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), at least 20 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals had been destroyed or were unusable as of June.
The Israeli military has repeatedly alleged that medical facilities in the Gaza Strip are being used as Hamas bases of operations, weapons storage sites and hiding places for its operatives among the civilians who have taken refuge there, but Hamas and Gaza health authorities deny the accusations.
In a statement to NBC News, the IDF said “an unfortunate consequence of Hamas’ exploitation of hospitals” is “the direct involvement of medical staff, including doctors, in Hamas’ terrorist activities.” It did not respond to a question about whether it was targeting doctors in their homes.
None of the doctors interviewed by NBC News said they had seen Hamas fighters or witnessed any terrorist activity inside the hospital, and Palestinian health officials and Hamas have repeatedly denied allegations that the militant group has used medical facilities as bases of operations.
Like a gruesome ritual, doctors have been keeping track of the dead and missing in a WhatsApp group that was originally started two years ago as a way for doctors to share information, but now, more than nine months into the war in Gaza, the group has become a forum for sharing news about health workers and photos and videos of hospitals under attack.
Among them is Dr. Ghassan Abu Sitta, for whom a new notification in a medical WhatsApp group could mean the death of a colleague or friend.
“Every time I get a message from this group, my heart sinks because it’s another round of bad news,” the UK-based plastic surgeon told NBC News in an interview last month. He posted a message at a London clinic announcing the death of one of his friends.
“Dr Ahmed Almaqadma was confirmed dead along with his mother,” the message said.
Abu Sitter last worked in Gaza in November, and among the dead were plastic surgeon Midhat Sayydam, nephrologist Hammam Alo and Hani Abu Haysem, head of the emergency department at Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, “all killed within 30 minutes of returning home,” he said.
“The goal of making Gaza uninhabitable may be being achieved here because the highly educated classes are leaving, those who can afford to leave,” he said, adding that some doctors who have left Gaza are “not a shadow of their former selves” and can no longer work.
Healthcare workers have also been detained by Israeli forces: 214 health care workers had been detained as of May, according to the WHO.
Some have died in custody, including Dr. Adnan Al-Bash, a prominent orthopedic surgeon who told NBC News after the November attack on Al-Shifa hospital that he decided to stay because “there are a lot of patients,” including women and children.
He died in Ofer prison in the occupied West Bank on April 19, according to the Gaza Health Ministry and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. UN special rapporteur Tolaren Mofokeng said in a statement that his case raises “serious concerns that he may have died following torture at the hands of Israeli authorities.”
Reached for comment, the Israel Prison Service told NBC News Shin BetThe Israel Defense Forces, Israel’s domestic security agency, did not respond to specific questions about the cause of his death.
but, In a statement to NBC News on June 18th, Israeli state media Shin Bet announced that Dr. Iyad Rantisi (53), head of the obstetrics department at Kamal Adwan Hospital in the northern city of Beit Lahiya, died in the “detention center clinic” six days after his arrest on November 11 “on suspicion of involvement in the taking of Israeli hostages.” The media said the circumstances of the death were under investigation.
Two relatives of Dr. Khaled Al-Sel, a general surgeon, told NBC News by phone last month that they had not heard from the doctor since March 24. They spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution and said they did not know whether the doctor was alive or dead.
Human rights group Amnesty International said last month that he had been detained at Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Yunis and had since been “held in conditions that amount to enforced disappearance” and called for his immediate release.
NBC News contacted the IDF several times seeking information about Al-Sel’s whereabouts. The IDF’s response did not address the issue of his detention, but instead repeated its accusations that Gaza hospitals are being used by Hamas. Israeli intelligence did not respond to requests for information.
Some of those released have warned of dire conditions inside prison.
He was released without charge and Nawha Prison Earlier this month, Dr. Mohammed Abu Salmiya, director of Al Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip in southern Israel, said he witnessed the mistreatment of prisoners. “The prisoners were subjected to physical and psychological humiliation every day,” he told an NBC News crew on camera in the Gaza Strip.
His comments echoed those of a nurse who spoke to NBC News on the condition of anonymity for fear of repercussions, and said she was moved to three different locations during her detention. Prisoners were forced to remain seated “18 to 19 hours a day” for more than a month, the nurse said.
His description echoes footage shown by Israeli television in February of a camp in southern Israel, where blindfolded men were kneeling in close groups, surrounded by armed guards.
The nurses said they were beaten, verbally insulted, denied food and toilet access, and regularly interrogated about the locations of Israeli hostages and whether medical personnel were members of Hamas.
Like Abu Salmiya, nurses said detainees were denied proper medical care. One prisoner developed gangrene in his right leg and “had it amputated below the knee,” he said, adding that “his family will not know that their son has lost a limb.”
Abu Sitta, a London-based plastic surgeon, said replacing the specialist will likely take years.
“This is a generational loss and it will take a long time to replace these talents,” he said, citing the example of Dr. Hammam Alo, who spent six years in medical school, three in internal medicine and then another six as a specialist nephrology resident, but was killed in an airstrike in November.
and Ceasefire negotiations As the war continues with few signs of an end in sight, the number of people needing treatment will only increase.
And the doctors’ deaths will put further strain on the exclave’s already overburdened health system. Health officials say more than 38,700 people have been killed since Israel launched a military offensive following a Hamas-led attack that left 1,200 people dead and more than 250 taken hostage, according to an Israeli tally.
The UN estimates that even after fighting ends, it could take as long as 14 years to clear the enclave’s rubble once Israeli offensives end.
“God willing, we will get back to work and rebuild Al-Shifa Medical Hospital as it was before, or even better,” said Abu Salmiya, the hospital’s director.
“And that will be the medical guide for all of our people.”
