On Thursday, the Palestinians reported that two detainees from Gaza, including a prominent Palestinian doctor from Al Shifa Hospital, died under Israeli custody. This information was relayed by the Palestinian Prisoners' Authority, which accused Israel of being responsible for their deaths.
The doctor was identified as Dr. Adnan Ahmad Al-Bursh, the chief of orthopedics at Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza, a figure frequently featured in international media. Hamas has stated that Dr. Al-Bursh was detained over four months ago while working at Al-Awda Hospital in northern Gaza, describing his death as an "assassination," with his body still held in detention.
An IDF spokesperson informed Reuters that the Prison Service declared Dr. Al-Bursh's death on April 19, noting he was detained "for reasons of national security" and held at Ofer Prison. The spokesperson did not elaborate on how he died.
The Ministry of Health in Gaza, controlled by Hamas, announced that "with Dr. Al-Bursh's death, the total number of health workers killed in Gaza has reached 496. Additionally, 1,500 have been injured and 309 arrested." The ministry urged international and human rights organizations to "intervene and protect prisoners from torture, terror, and murder."
Palestinian sources disclosed to Reuters that on the previous day, 64 Gazans who had been detained by the IDF were released and returned via the Kerem Shalom crossing, with one in critical condition. Palestinian prisoner groups revealed that among those released was the body of a Palestinian who died while detained. They also noted that 18 Palestinian detainees have died in Israeli custody since the war began.
UNRWA reported that as of April 4, some 1,506 Palestinians, including 43 children and 84 women, had been freed from detention and returned to Gaza through Kerem Shalom. The agency expressed concerns that transferring detainees through this crossing consistently hampers the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Strip. Numerous Palestinians released by Israel recently, including UNRWA staff, allege they suffered abuse and deprivation of basic needs like food and sleep during their detention.
Hamas declared: "Today's announcement of the deaths of two of our people, abducted from Gaza and held in the detention centers of the fascist occupation under cruel torture, confirms the ongoing horrific war crimes against our people and the detainees, taken from schools and hospitals to detention centers devoid of basic human rights, including doctors whose only crime was fulfilling their humanitarian duties to the injured and sick."