Gaza’s Doctors Behind Bars: The Occupation’s War on the Health System Through Arrest and Torture
Sixteen doctors from Gaza sit in Israeli prisons today. They include hospital directors, department heads, and specialists in narrow fields, all held under harsh conditions and subjected to grave abuses. Several more have been martyred inside the detention centers, killed by torture and medical neglect. The pattern points to one aim: strip Gaza of its medical workforce and cripple its ability to treat the sick and wounded.
Nothing was spared during the genocidal war on Gaza. Israeli forces struck hospitals directly and deliberately, and the attacks widened until they reached the medical staff themselves. The occupation ran systematic arrest campaigns against hospital directors, department heads, and specialist doctors, seizing them as they carried out their humanitarian work, or storming the health facilities to arrest them.
The list of detained doctors reads like a roll call of Gaza’s finest medical minds.
Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, a pediatrician and director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, was arrested from Kamal Adwan Hospital on December 27, 2024.
Dr. Mohammed Abu Obeid, head of orthopedic and reconstructive surgery at Al-Awda Hospital, was arrested from Kamal Adwan Hospital on October 26, 2024.
Dr. Akram Abu Ouda, head of orthopedic surgery at the Indonesian Hospital, was arrested from the Indonesian Hospital on November 23, 2024.
Dr. Ghassan Abu Zohri, head of the orthopedics department at Nasser Medical Complex, was arrested from Nasser Medical Complex on February 15, 2024.
Dr. Nahed Abu Taima, a surgeon and director of Nasser Medical Complex, was arrested from Nasser Medical Complex on February 17, 2024.
Dr. Murad Al-Qawqa, head of orthopedic surgery at Al-Shifa Medical Complex, was arrested from Al-Shifa Medical Complex on March 20, 2024.
Dr. Marwan Shafiq Ali Al-Hams, director of field hospitals and official spokesman for the Ministry of Health in Gaza, was arrested from the Red Cross hospital on July 21, 2025.
Dr. Musab Samaan, an orthopedic doctor and teaching assistant at the Islamic University, was arrested from Nasser Medical Complex on February 15, 2024.
Dr. Hassan Al-Muqayyad, a vascular surgeon, was arrested from Kamal Adwan Hospital on November 23, 2024.
Dr. Mahmoud Al-Hallaq, an intensive care doctor, was arrested from Nasser Medical Complex on February 16, 2024.
Dr. Medhat Abu Tabanja, head of intensive care at the Indonesian Hospital, was arrested from the Indonesian Hospital on March 4, 2024.
Dr. Raed Mahdi, a pediatric specialist, was arrested from his home on December 8, 2023.
Dr. Hamza Abu Sabha, an orthopedic surgeon at Nasser Medical Complex, was arrested from Nasser Medical Complex on February 15, 2024.
Dr. Ahmed Shehada, a cardiologist, was arrested from Nasser Medical Complex on February 16, 2024.
Dr. Ahmed Musa, a general surgeon at Nasser Medical Complex, was arrested from Nasser Medical Complex on November 15, 2024.
Dr. Omar Ammar, an obstetrician and gynecologist, was arrested in Khan Younis on March 3, 2024.
The list shows how far the assault on Gaza’s health sector reached. The occupation seized medical workers as they treated patients and stormed the facilities where they worked, emptying the health system of its expertise. Thousands of patients and wounded were left without the care they needed during one of the worst humanitarian crises the territory has known.
Martyred Under Torture
For some doctors, arrest became something worse. A slow killing behind prison walls.
Dr. Adnan Al-Bursh, head of orthopedic surgery at Al-Shifa Medical Complex, was martyred inside Ofer prison after being tortured. The occupation still holds his body.
Dr. Iyad Al-Rantisi, head of obstetrics at Kamal Adwan Hospital, was martyred inside an Israeli interrogation center in Ashkelon a week after his arrest, one more crime added to the record of violations against Palestinian medical staff.
The Prisoners’ Media Office says the targeting of Palestinian doctors and medical teams is a compound crime and a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law. It reflects a systematic policy designed to dismantle Gaza’s health system by arresting its personnel and barring them from carrying out their humanitarian mission.
The office calls for:
The immediate release of all doctors and medical staff held in Israeli prisons.
Disclosure of their medical and legal conditions, and unrestricted access for the International Committee of the Red Cross to visit them.
Adequate medical care for the detainees, and an end to the policy of torture and medical neglect against them.
An independent international investigation into the crimes of arresting and torturing doctors, and into the martyrdom of doctors inside Israeli prisons.
Accountability for those responsible for the violations committed against Palestinian medical staff, as war crimes that demand international prosecution.
Protection for health workers under international humanitarian law, and a ban on targeting them while they carry out their humanitarian duty.
Gaza’s doctors remain behind bars, and several have been martyred inside Israeli prisons. The targeting reached past the hospitals to the healers themselves. Between the doctors still held and those martyred under torture, this record bears witness to one of the gravest forms of assault on the Palestinian health sector. It demands urgent international action to secure their release and to hold the occupation accountable for the crimes committed against them.
