A senior Palestinian doctor has died in an Israeli prison after more than four months of detention, two Palestinian prisoner associations have said, blaming Israel for his death.
The associations said in a joint statement on Thursday local time that Adnan Al-Bursh, head of orthopaedics at Al-Shifa hospital, Gaza's largest medical facility, had been detained by Israeli forces while temporarily working at Al-Awada hospital in northern Gaza.
The Israeli prison service issued a statement on April 19 saying that a prisoner detained for national security reasons had died in Ofer Prison in the West Bank, but giving no detail on the cause of death.
A prison service spokesperson confirmed that the statement referred to Dr Al-Bursh, and said the incident was being investigated.
Medical groups, including the World Health Organization, have repeatedly called for a halt to attacks on Gaza healthcare workers, with more than 200 killed so far in the Gaza conflict, according to an estimate from Insecurity Insight, a research group that collects and analyses data on attacks on aid workers around the world.
The Palestinian health ministry said in a statement that Dr Al-Bursh's death raised to 496 the number of medical sector workers who had been killed by Israel since Hamas' attack on October 7 last year.
It added that 1,500 others had been wounded, while 309 had been arrested.
Israel accuses Hamas of using hospitals for military purposes and says its operations against them have been justified by the presence of fighters. Hamas and medical staff deny the allegations.
ABC LINKI was vaguely aware that medical staff were at risk, but I didn't know it had gone so far.
recall reading if the snipers in the attack on Al-Shifa hospital some months ago. the report was that medical staff in scrubs were fired on through windows. I had taken that as a bit exaggerated as I didn't want to believe it
the one thing that is sacred in every combat zone I've ever read is the medical staff and facilities. I'm asking
@822-190 to explain this news.
