Prominent Gaza doctor dies in Israeli custody: Report
A prominent Palestinian doctor died while in Israeli police custody just six days after he was detained, Israeli outlet Haaretz reported. This report comes hours after the Gaza Health Ministry announced his death.
Dr Iyad al-Rantisi, 53, the head of a women’s hospital section of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza’s city of Beit Lahiya, was detained by the Israeli army last November, according to the outlet. He died at the Shikma prison, an interrogation facility of Shin Bet, Isreal’s domestic intelligence agency, in southern Israel’s Ashkelon, Haaretz said.
Shin Bet said they arrested the doctor because he was suspected of being involved in hiding Israeli captives, according to the paper.
According to Dr Husam Abu Safia, the manager of the Kamal Adwan Hospital, al-Rantisi was detained at an army checkpoint while attempting to make the journey from north to south Gaza, following the Israeli military’s orders for evacuation purposes at the start of the war, Safia told Haaretz.
The Israeli Justice Ministry has ordered an investigation into Rantisi’s death.
Action must be taken on alleged complicity of Israeli doctors in torture
As the practice of torture persists across the world, too often medical workers are at risk of becoming complicit. One country that has come under the spotlight recently regarding medical complicity in torture has been Israel.
For years, human rights organisations have reported “widespread and systematic” use of torture by Israeli security forces and prison authorities. The Israeli NGO Public Committee against Torture (PCATI) has filed over 1,400 torture complaints against Israeli authorities since 2001.
Since October 7, allegations of ill-treatment and torture of Palestinians in Israeli detention have sharply increased. According to media reports, at least 40 Palestinians have died in Israeli military detention and 16 in prison over the past eight months.
These numbers represent a substantial increase when compared to the average of four deaths per year from 1967 to 2019.
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