A senior Palestinian Doctor Adnan Al Bursh 50, who was the head of the orthopaedic department at al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza, Gaza's largest medical facility,.has been killed in an Israeli prison.two Palestinian prisoner associations have said, blaming Israel for his death.
The photo of Adnan Al Bursh below went viral after he performed 28 surgeries in one day during the Great March of Return in 2018-2019, when Israeli snipers shot over 6106 Palestinians and killed over 250.
For about three months, Adnan El-Bursh was one of the health workers who provided live updates directly from the hospital despite being under siege by Israeli armed forces..
After patients, health workers, and forcibly displaced people were forced to leave Al-Shifa, he moved to the Indonesian Hospital, where he was injured in an attack.
Dr. Adnan Al-Bursh's final interview with Al Jazeera recounted the harrowing events of Israeli occupation forces forcing doctors and patients to evacuate Al-Shifa Hospital. Despite the pressure, Dr. Al-Bursh persisted in serving the wounded and relocated to Al-Amal Hospital in Northern Gaza, from where he and several other health workers were abducted about five months ago.while caring for patients. He and most of the medical teams were moved to Israeli detention camps. Israel tortured Dr. Adnan to death in one of its interrogation centers..
An Israeli military spokesperson said that the prison service had declared Dr Bursh dead on April 19, saying that he had been detained for national security reasons in Ofer prison. The spokesperson did not comment on the cause of death.
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.
The Palestinian Prisoners’ Affairs Commission and the Palestinian Prisoners’ Caucus said in a joint statement Thursday that Adnan Ahmad al-Bursh, a Palestinian surgeon and professor of orthopedic medicine, lost his life due to torture at the Israeli-run Ofer prison in the occupied West Bank last month.
The statement said the 50-year-old Palestinian surgeon died in what it described as a “targeted killing” and “his body continues to be held” by the Israeli regime. Citing Palestinian authorities, both rights groups said Bursh was arrested along with a group of other doctors last December at al-Awda hospital near the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza and that he died on April 19.
The joint statement said another detainee, 33-year-old Ismail Abdul Bari Khader, also died in Israeli custody and his body was transferred on May 2 along with 64 other prisoners.
“Both victims died as a result of torture and crimes committed against prisoners in Gaza,” the statement said, adding that Bursh’s death “was part of a systematic attack on doctors and the healthcare system in Gaza.”Stressing that the surgeon’s death amounts to “murder”,
Both rights groups reiterated their appeal to the United Nations and all international institutions to fulfill their obligations in connection with the crimes committed against Palestinian prisoners during the occupation.
They stressed the need to “go beyond simply publishing reports, testimonies and warnings, because after almost seven months of genocide all this has lost its meaning and the occupation is supported by clear international forces.”
Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur on the human rights situation in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, said she was “very concerned” by the death of the prominent doctor. “I call on the diplomatic community to take concrete action to protect the Palestinians. “No Palestinian is safe today under Israeli occupation,” she wrote in a statement to X on Thursday. “How many more lives will have to be taken before UN member states, especially those that demonstrate genuine concern for human rights around the world, take action to protect Palestinians?”
The whereabouts and conditions of many health workers who were taken from Al-Awda health centers, including hospital director Ahmed Muhanna, remain largely undisclosed by the IOF. However, released prisoners have shared testimonies of the torture and humiliation specifically endured by health workers in Israeli prisons
The Ministry of Health in Gaza has issued the following statement:
"We condemn the murder of Adnan Al-Bursh, head of the Orthopaedic department at Al-Shifa Medical Complex, under torture inside the occupation prisons. The crime of killing human beings in the occupation prisons raised the death toll in the health sector since October 7 to 492. We call on the international community and health and human rights organizations to intervene and visit the prisoners and protect them from torture."
The killing of another surgeon in Israeli custody is heartbreaking, Israel is killing the most skilled and the kindest people and highlights the ongoing targeting of health workers amid the war on Gaza. Medical groups, including the World Health Organisation, have repeatedly called for a halt to attacks on Gaza healthcare workers. The Palestinian health ministry said in a statement that Dr Bursh’s death raised to 496 the number of medical sector workers who had been killed by Israel since Oct 7. It added that 1,500 others had been wounded, while 309 had been arrested.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO) attacks on healthcare in the occupied Palestinian territory haven’t been limited to Gaza, with 421 attacks also reported in the occupied West Bank in the last six months. These include 302 obstructions to health access, and the use of force within health facilities.
The WHO classifies an attack on health care as any instance of violence against or any obstructions that interfere with delivery or access to health services during emergencies, including psychological threats and intimidation of patients and workers.
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.
The associations representing prisoners stated, “What happened to Al-Bursh was a deliberate assassination, part of Israel’s systematic targeting of doctors and the healthcare system in Gaza.”
Gaza’s health workers and patients face unprecedented mental health crisis Israel’s targeting of health workers has been denounced as an effort to undermine the Palestinian resistance on numerous occasions.
Testimonies from health workers released from prison describe severe beatings, deprivation of food and water, and forced humiliating treatment such as being chained and made to crawl. Like other political prisoners taken by Israel since October 2023, health workers face severe long-term health consequences.
The Resistance News Network reported that many continue to suffer from fractures and other injuries incurred early in their detention, with evident physical decline including significant weight loss and changed appearances.
In addition to torture and other physical abuses, Palestinian prisoners face health risks exacerbated by poor living conditions in Israeli prisons. One of the most recent health crises was a scabies outbreak at Al-Naqab prison, caused by overcrowding, reduced water supply, and inadequate sanitary facilities.
Six months of constant bombardment, siege and obstruction of aid deliveries have annihilated the health system in Gaza. Only 11 hospitals out of 36 are partially functioning and the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) reported that some 350,000 people suffering from chronic diseases in Gaza are unable to access vital medicines, supplies, and services. seeking to care for them face acute shortages of supplies including medicines, fuel, water and food.
Despite ongoing assaults and the targeting of their facilities, Gaza’s health workers continue to provide care to thousands of patients and displaced individuals.
Israel has carried out an unrelenting offensive on the Palestinian enclave since a cross-border attack by Hamas last October 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 due to. Israel’s indiscriminate bombardment.
More than six months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins, pushing 85 percent 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.
Urgent action is needed right now.We must mourn Dr Adnan Al-Bursh who was tortured to death in Israeli detention and demand justice . Attacks on healthcare must cease, Israel’s complete siege must be lifted, and an immediate ceasefire must be brokered to safeguard innocent lives.
