Rights group says Israel has systematically abused Palestinian health workers for their profession

(CNN) — Israel has systematically targeted Palestinian healthcare workers in Gaza, arbitrarily detaining them without charge or access to legal counsel, and submitting them to torture and abuse, according to a new report by Physicians for Human Rights Israel (PHRI).

Between July and December, lawyers working with the Israeli nonprofit group said they visited over two dozen Palestinian medical workers, including physicians, nurses and paramedics, aged between at least 21 and 69, who had spent more than six months in isolation after having been seized by Israeli forces.

In the 21-page report released Wednesday, PHRI said that the testimonies from healthcare personnel indicate that their arrests were primarily used by Israel to gather intelligence rather than investigate their alleged involvement in armed conflict or link them to criminal activity.

“This suggests a systemic policy that violates human rights and, more broadly, indicates that such arrests are arbitrary and unlawful under international legal standards,” PHRI said.

PHRI is an Israeli advocacy group made up of medical professionals and rights activists, which describes itself as a political NGO that “believes it is impossible to separate health from politics.” It also provides direct medical services in the Palestinian territories and in Jaffa, according to its website.

“As an Israeli organization, our activity is directed above all at changing the policy in the space where the Israeli government has the power, and is able to change and correct wrongs and prevent human rights violations,” PHRI states on its website.

In 2020, its donors included the United Nations, the European Commission, the US and Swiss embassies, and the Catholic church’s service Secours Catholique, according to the most recent financial report available on PHRI’s website.

The heathcare professionals interviewed by PHRI were held in several facilities run by the Israeli military and the Israel Prison Service (IPS), including Sde Teiman, Ktzi’ot Prison and Nafha Prison, in southern Israel, Petah Tikva in central Israel and Ofer Prison, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Their testimonies suggest detainees were subjected to dehumanizing, near-daily abuse, the group said. Healthcare workers have alleged they experienced sexual abuse, beatings, dog attacks, starvation, sensory overload and had boiling water poured on them.

The Israeli military held more than 250 health workers in Gaza by September, according to Healthcare Workers Watch Palestine, which has been collecting information about medical professionals working in the strip since the war started on October 7, 2023. Over 180 remain in detention, PHRI said.

PHRI called for the immediate release of all detained medical personnel and “guarantees that the fundamental rights and protections of medical workers are upheld.”

The IPS told CNN that it was not aware of the abuse of Palestinian medical workers in its facilities, adding that “all prisoners are detained according to the law” and that “basic rights are provided” by prison guards.

In a statement to CNN, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) rejected claims that it had detained medical workers on the basis of their profession, adding that such allegations ignored what it said was the reality on the ground: the “activity of terrorist organizations in Gaza within medical institutions, and the phenomenon of certain medical staff being involved in terrorist activities.”

It also denied that detainees were held for extended periods without access to legal representation, and said that any concrete allegations of mistreatment of detainees were thoroughly examined and subject to appropriate action.

In its report, PHRI said that the testimonies it gathered suggested medical workers were heavily targeted for their profession and their detention had destructive consequences for Gaza’s healthcare system. More than 15 months of Israeli bombing following the October 2023 Hamas-led attacks on Israel has decimated Gaza’s medical system and killed more than 1,000 health workers, according to the United Nations and the Ministry of Health in the Palestinian enclave.

Many of the healthcare workers said they were interrogated about Israeli hostages, tunnels, weapons, hospitals and Hamas’ activity – some for up to 12 hours and while being beaten or hung from the ceiling. Others told PHRI they were asked about fellow physicians.

Israel says that Hamas has operated inside and underneath hospitals, and used them for its military operations, including as command centers, weapons stores and to hide hostages. Hamas has repeatedly denied the claims.

Palestinians from Gaza are held in Israel under the Unlawful Combatants law, enacted in 2002, which allows authorities to “detain Palestinians from Gaza en masse without charge or trial,” according to Amnesty International. Rights groups and the UN Human Rights Office say their detention for extended periods without charge, access to lawyers or contact with families violates international law.

The Israeli military says this practice is permitted under the Geneva Conventions, which govern the conduct of war, and allow the detention of civilians for security reasons.

Palestinian health workers detail abuse ‘at every stage’

Twenty out of the 24 medical staff interviewed were arrested while carrying out their duties, including at hospitals, PHRI said, accusing Israel of breaching their right to “perform life-saving tasks.” The remaining four were detained at their homes, in displacement camps, or at checkpoints.

Upon their arrest, medical workers told PHRI they were stripped naked, handcuffed, blindfolded, forced to prostrate, and detained for hours to days.

The IDF has previously told CNN that they strip Palestinians they suspect of being Hamas members to make sure they’re not carrying explosives, and that those found not to be affiliated with Hamas are released.

“At every stage, we endured beatings and severe violence — batons, dog attacks, and boiling water poured on us, causing severe burns,” said Dr. N.T., 49, head of surgery at Nasser Hospital, southern Gaza, who was arrested in February 2024 and taken to Sde Teiman, Ofer and Ktzi’ot prisons.

Dr. K.J., a dentist arrested in March by Israeli forces at Gaza City’s Al-Shifa Hospital, where he had sought shelter with his family, said he and other captives were beaten while inside a bus on their way to Sde Teiman. “We were punched, kicked, and hit in the testicles and all over our bodies,” he told PHRI.

Almost all of the detainees PHRI interviewed were taken to Sde Teiman, a shadowy detention center in Israel’s Negev desert. A CNN investigation into the facility released in May, based on interviews with Israeli whistleblowers and former Palestinian detainees, revealed horrific conditions there, including continuous blindfolding and handcuffing, medical negligence and abuse. The investigation sparked an international outcry and was cited as part of an Israeli Supreme Court hearing on conditions at the facility.

Several medics held at Sde Teiman described similar conditions to PHRI, including that soldiers allowed dogs to urinate and defecate on prisoners, and oversaw sexual and psychological torture.

Dr Khaled Alser, a 32-year-old surgeon detained from Nasser Hospital in March, said that he personally examined fellow detainees after they were sexually abused, “including the insertion of batons or electric rods into the buttocks.” PHRI said that Alser was released after seven months in detention without charge.

Responding to CNN’s request for comment on the allegations made in its May report on Sde Teiman, the IDF said in a statement that it “ensures proper conduct towards the detainees in custody” and that any allegation of misconduct by its soldiers was “examined and dealt with accordingly.”

Other detainees who spoke with PHRI described a method of abuse used in interrogations referred to as the “Disco Room.” Three Palestinians health workers said they were held in a space with bright lights and loud music to sensorily overload them before being bombarded with questions like: “Where are the hostages,” or “Where are the tunnel entrances.”

Guards escalated the brutality of their beatings in the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, several eyewitnesses told PHRI.

PHRI said that Palestinian health workers also described “pervasive medical neglect” in incarceration, where they said Israeli authorities starved detainees, restricted access to showers, and ignored requests for drugs.

One nurse said they had lost more than 25 kilograms over 11 months in detention.

One doctor told PHRI they attempted to care for their fellow detainees by improvising surgeries using pieces of plastic disinfected with bleach. In other cases, they said they witnessed limbs being amputated, while others died from their injuries.

An orthopedic specialist said he tried to appeal to an Israeli doctor’s collegial solidarity, only to be slapped and called a “terrorist.”

Meanwhile, PHRI said that some prisoners they interviewed were flatly denied legal representation, forced to sign testimony documents in Hebrew, or denied access to evidence of alleged crimes and “credible, translated” testimony in their native language. Others were given truncated court hearings without a lawyer present, the organization said. A handful of medics said they were told they would be held in detention, even though there was no indictment against them.

A surgeon detained in Ofer Prison told PHRI he had a court hearing on the sixtieth day of his detention in April. “I was left waiting in the sun for eight hours, during which soldiers beat me, threw stones at me, and spat on me,” said a 42-year-old surgeon listed in the report as Dr. A.M., who PHRI says was arrested at Nasser Hospital, southern Gaza.

“At the hearing, they stated, ‘There is no indictment against you, but you will remain in detention until the war is over,’” he said.

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