Released doctor says Palestinians in Israeli jails died under torture, medical negligence

The director of the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City has said several Palestinians in Israeli jails died during interrogation, torture, medical negligence, and deprivation of medicine.

Speaking at a press conference following his release on Monday, Mohammad Abu Salmiya said he and the other released Palestinians left behind Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails "who experience difficult conditions."

He added that the Palestinian detainees are subjected to physical and psychological torture, and are offered few quantities of food.

"Gaza prisoners lost (on average) 25 kilograms (55 pounds) of their weights because of lack of food," Dr. Abu Salmiya said.

He also noted that the Israeli doctors and nurses were also part of the assault and punishment of the Palestinian prisoners by not providing them with the required medical treatment.

"The (Israeli) doctor there beat the detainees, the nurse beat the detainees," Abu Salmiya said.

He urged the international organizations concerned with the rights of the prisoners "to visit the prisoners and view the hard conditions they are enduring inside the prisons."

On Monday, Israel released Abu Salmiya and around 54 Palestinians, including doctors, who were detained from Al-Shifa Hospital and other medical facilities during separate military operations over the past months.

Abu Salmiya was arrested on Nov. 23 along with several medical staffers while traveling from Gaza City to the south of the enclave following an Israeli raid on the hospital.

Israel, flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7, 2023 attack by the Palestinian group Hamas.

At least 37,900 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and around 87,000 others injured, according to local health authorities.

Over eight months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.