Gaza hospital director released, accuses Israel of torture

Dr. Mohammed Abu Selmia, the director of Gaza’s Shifa hospital, has been released by Israel, seven months after detaining him during a raid on Shifa Hospital. Abu Selmia and other detainees, about 50 in total, claim that they were subjected to severe mistreatment by their Israeli captors, including physical and psychological torture. He described beatings, broken fingers, and denial of medical treatment, leading to severe health issues among detainees. ‘We left behind many detainees, tens of thousands of detainees who have been mistreated, who have been physically and psychologically tortured that no Palestinian prisoner had been subjected to since the 1948 Nakba (catastrophe),’ he said. This torture, he said, was carried out by the detention facility’s medical staff ‘in violation of all laws.’ The abuse and neglect was so bad that some prisoners lost their limbs. The detention of Abu Selmia occurred during raids on hospitals in Gaza, with Israel claiming that Shifa and other hospitals were being used as Hamas command stations. The raids were condemned for fueling a humanitarian and healthcare crisis on the strip, while hospital staff denied they were harboring militants. Abu Selmia was never charged.