Palestinian Health Ministry calls on global community to probe into killings of doctors in Israeli custody

By Yusuf Alioglu

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) – The Palestinian Health Ministry in the Gaza Strip on Saturday called on the global community to form an international committee to thoroughly investigate the circumstances surrounding the deaths of doctors Iyad Al-Rantisi and Adnan Al-Bursh in Israeli prisons.

Health Ministry Director General Munir Al-Bursh in a press conference in northern Gaza urged “the international community to establish an international investigation committee to look into the circumstances surrounding the deaths of doctors Al-Rantisi and Al-Bursh."

He noted that the Israeli army has killed over 500 medical personnel, including doctors, and arrested approximately 400 more since the war on Gaza began on Oct. 7, 2023.

On Nov. 10, 2023, the Israeli army arrested Dr. Rantisi in Gaza.

Dr. Rantisi died a week after being arrested at an investigation center affiliated with the Israeli Internal Security Agency Shin Bet in Ashkelon, southern Israel, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported on Wednesday.

The Israeli army arrested Dr. Al-Bursh in Dec. 2023, and his death was announced on April 19.

Meanwhile, the director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, Hossam Abu Safiya, condemned the Israeli authorities for the "assassination" of the two doctors.

"We condemn the Israeli occupation’s killing of Dr. Al-Rantisi, head of the obstetrics and gynecology department at Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia, and the killing of Dr. Al-Bursh, head of the orthopedics department at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City,” said Abu Safiya during the same press conference.

Abu Safiya asserted that Al-Rantisi and Al-Bursh "were tortured inside the occupation (forces) prisons solely because they provided humanitarian services" to the people in Gaza.

He also condemned the Israeli army for subjecting medical teams in Gaza to "arrest, torture, killing, and direct targeting."

Abu Safiya also stressed the international community to form an investigation committee to look into the doctors' killings.

He also appealed to the international community and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to reveal the whereabouts of the remaining Gaza medical staff imprisoned by Israeli forces.

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

More than 37,500 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, most of them women and children, and more than 85,900 others injured, according to local health authorities.

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

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its operation in Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

* Writing by Ikram Kouachi