More than 500 health sector personnel have been killed nd hundreds of them have been injured since the beginning of the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip. During its war, the occupation has used all its tools to fight the health system in the Strip, from direct attacks, targeting and killing medical personnel, arresting them, and preventing medical supplies and equipment.

Rohan Talbot, a doctor and official with the British charity Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP), gave testimony before the British Parliament regarding the crimes of the Israeli occupation against doctors in Gaza. In his testimony, he confirmed that there is evidence indicating the deliberate targeting of Palestinian medical personnel by Israel. Since October 7, 2023, the Israeli occupation has arrested hundreds of Palestinian health care workers. While many of them are still in detention and prisons, a number of those who were released were able to convey the reality of these detention centers and the horrific violations that prisoners are subjected to inside them.

The occupation forces arrested Dr. Adnan Al-Barsh, a Palestinian orthopedic surgeon from northern Gaza, while he was performing his work. He died last April inside the Israeli Ofer prison in mysterious circumstances.

Today, the British Sky News network publishes a video report in which it attempts to reveal the details of the last period in the doctor’s life inside the occupation’s prisons.

compelling evidence

The report relied on a statement given by a prisoner who knew Dr. Al-Barsh to lawyers from the Israeli human rights organization "HaMoked". The summary of what was stated in his statement is that Dr. Adnan arrived at Ofer Prison in mid-April in a deplorable state, and it was clear that he had been assaulted, as he had injuries on his body and was naked from the bottom up.

The former prisoner continues his testimony by saying that the prison guards threw the doctor into the middle of the yard and left him there. He was unable to stand, so one of the prisoners helped him and accompanied him to one of the rooms. After a few minutes, he heard the screams of the prisoners from the room, announcing that Dr. Adnan Al-Barsh had been martyred.

The latest Sky News report caused a stir on social media, with activists believing that the details of the report implicitly indicate that the doctor was raped before his death.

“There is now overwhelming evidence of rape of Palestinians by the Israeli military,” commented writer Owen Jones. “The fact that this is not considered newsworthy underscores the anti-Arab racism. Rape allegations only matter if they can be used to show the West’s enemies as barbaric.”

"lack of honor"

"Has rape and sexual assault become normal? Yes rape, now normalized by child killers in the Israeli military," wrote activist Jim Fitzpatrick.

"Even genocide has rules. This country not only lacks humanity, but also lacks honor. Rape as a punishment? Rape of people? Doctors? I can't believe it as I write this," said blogger Melih Ozkan.

Journalist Alon Mizrahi wrote: “The colonizer kills and destroys the most talented and capable among the colonized to make it seem as if the colonizers alone possess culture, values, and capabilities... It is a strategy based on a deep illness, but also on fear and envy; Israelis cannot stand a Palestinian doctor, poet, intellectual, journalist, or charismatic orator.”