CAIRO/RAMALLAH: A senior Palestinian doctor has died in an Israeli prison after more than four months of detention. Two Palestinian prisoner associations blamed Israel for his death.
The associations said Dr Adnan Al-Bursh was the head of orthopaedics at Al Shifa Hospital, Gaza’s main medical facility. He was detained by Israeli forces while temporarily working at Al-Awada Hospital in north Gaza.
They called his death an “assassination” and said his body remained in Israeli custody.
An Israeli military spokesperson said Bursh was detained for national security reasons in Ofer prison. The prison service declared Bursh dead on April 19, he added, but declined comment on the cause of death.
More than 200 healthcare workers have died so far in the Gaza conflict, estimates Insecurity Insight. The research group collects and analyses data on attacks on aid workers around the world.
The Palestinian health ministry said Bursh’s death raised the number of medics killed by Israel since October 7 to 496. At least 1,500 others had been wounded while 309 had been arrested, it added.
Israel accuses Hamas of using hospitals for military purposes. Hamas and medical staff deny the allegations.
Earlier on Thursday, the Israeli authorities released 64 Palestinians detained during the military offensive in Gaza. One of them was the body of another man who had died in detention, the prisoners’ associations said.
The U.N. Palestinian Refugee Agency said Israel released 1,506 people through the Kerem Shalom crossing as of April 4. This included 43 children and 84 women, it said. The transfer of detainees regularly holds up aid coming through that crossing, it added.
Several Palestinians freed by Israel including staff of a U.N. agency reported ill-treatment during detention. This includes torture and deprivation of food and sleep.
(REUTERS)
