Palestinian doctor killed in Israeli prison, Gaza health workers' death toll reaches 496

By Abdul Salam Fayez

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) – The death toll of Gaza's health workers in the ongoing Israeli onslaught reached 496 following the killing of doctor Adnan al-Bursh in the Israeli Ofer prison, according to the enclave's Health Ministry on Thursday.

“The murder of Dr. Adnan al-Bursh in the Israeli prison has raised the death toll of the health sector in the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7 to 496,” the ministry said in a statement.

It added that the number of injured health workers has reached 1,500, with 309 prisoners.

The ministry pointed out that "the killing of Dr. al-Bursh will not be the last crime amid complete silence about the condition of prisoners in the Israeli jails, especially those detained from the Gaza Strip."

The Palestinian Prisoner Society said Thursday that two detainees from the Gaza Strip have died in Israeli prisons.

The society identified the two victims as Adnan al-Bursh, 50, a doctor, and Ismail Khader, 33.

Al-Bursh was the head of the orthopedic department at Al-Shifa Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip. He was arrested by the Israeli army last December as he was treating patients at Al-Adwa Hospital in northern Gaza.

Hundreds of Palestinians are believed to have been detained by the Israeli army amid a deadly offensive on the Gaza Strip.

Israel has waged an unrelenting offensive on the Palestinian enclave since a cross-border attack by Hamas last Oct. 7, which killed some 1,200 people.

Nearly 34,600 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and 77,800 injured amid mass destruction and severe shortages of necessities.

More than six months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins, pushing 85% of the enclave’s population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio in Istanbul