GAZA – According to eyewitness accounts given by CNN, Israeli forces seized Palestinian journalists and health workers at Al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza, blindfolded them, and stripped them down to their underwear.
Palestinian reporters and medical workers described humiliating interrogations in which colleagues were stripped and put outside in the cold after the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) laid siege to the enclave’s major hospital in the early hours of Monday. One of the detainees told CNN that Israeli authorities released him without his ID or phone.
The Israeli military invaded Al-Shifa, claiming that “senior Hamas terrorists” were using the building to “conduct and promote terrorist activity.” It claimed to have apprehended a senior Hamas member during the operation.
Israeli Military Forced Journalists And Health Workers To Strip In Gaza Hospital Raid, Eyewitnesses Say
Ismail Al-Ghoul, an Al Jazeera journalist, told CNN that he and his team were detained for 12 hours, stripped to their underwear and blindfolded despite the rain and cold. Another team member, Ahmad al-Harazin, stated that “while we were sitting [there], the [Israeli] army suddenly raided and arrested us.” God Almighty kept us safe. And we were released.”
Samer Tarazi, a member of Al Ghoul’s crew at Al-Shifa, told CNN that he had just finished work at 2 a.m. local time on Monday when the Israeli military attacked the complex and detained them.
“We were blindfolded and tied while we waited to be released. We were waiting, not knowing where we were or where we were going,” he explained. Following his imprisonment, the IDF instructed Tarazi and his associates to retreat south down the coastal Al Rashid Street. “We were released without getting our IDs or mobile phones back,” he said.
Al Jazeera claimed in a statement on Monday that Al-Ghoul and his colleagues were detained and “severely beaten” before being transferred to an unidentified location for interrogation. The IDF informed CNN that they had no record of capturing Al Ghoul or his associates.
Dr. Marwan Abu Saada, Al-Shifa’s chief of surgery, also provided his account to CNN. Abu Saada was not in the hospital when the Israeli raid started on Monday. He stated on Tuesday that colleagues who had been allowed to leave the hospital reported Israeli military breaking into the majority of the hospital buildings.
He claimed that male medical personnel were forced to strip and left “for hours in the cold,” a claim shared by several males who have been released from the scene. “They scanned their faces with a camera and took them one by one for humiliating investigation,” he stated in the testimony, which was provided with CNN by a colleague.
“Many were arrested and were taken to an unknown place, some were forced to leave the hospital and displaced to the south half naked, and others were ordered to go back to the hospital,” he said.
“Soldiers assaulted and violated our medical staff and workers in Al-Shifa Hospital, left them without food or water for two days, taking into consideration that this is the month of Ramadan and they are fasting.”
CNN has asked the IDF for a reaction to Saada’s allegations. The IDF still needs to answer.
The IDF announced in a statement Thursday that “over 140 terrorists have been eliminated” during the assault. On Wednesday, the IDF stated its officers interrogated “over 300 suspects” and sent at least 160 others to Israeli territory “for further questioning.” CNN cannot independently verify the IDF’s assertions.
CNN has contacted the IDF for further information about the people it claims it killed or detained during the operation on Al-Shifa and the surrounding area.
Israel initiated its military offensive in Gaza after the Islamist group Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, killing at least 1,200 people, including 36 children, and capturing more than 250 more.
According to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, Israeli assaults have killed at least 31,988 Palestinians and injured an additional 74,188.
Israeli Military Forced Journalists And Health Workers To Strip In Gaza Hospital Raid, Eyewitnesses Say
Israel transformed Al-Shifa Hospital into a battleground in November, conducting a “precise and targeted” strike on the hospital. Doctors were compelled to work by candlelight and wrap preterm babies in foil to save their lives. A report released in November stated that dozens of people died as a result of a shortage of electricity.
Health workers have previously told CNN that they are unable to provide life-saving treatment to Palestinians injured in the war, especially children and newborns, because Israel’s bombardment and siege of Gazan hospitals have destroyed the medical infrastructure. The IDF alleges Hamas conducts military operations in hospitals. Hamas denies exploiting hospitals for cover. CNN cannot independently corroborate either claim.
International law makes targeting hospitals during warfare illegal; however, the standards vary if hostile combatants use the facility to strike an opponent. Nonetheless, the idea of proportionality protects both patients and doctors. Before launching an attack, a warning must be issued, as well as a period for safe evacuation.
Claims of interrogation, death, and torture
Footage emerged earlier this week showing piles of debris and plumes of smoke covering the neighborhood surrounding Al-Shifa as civilians fled in horror following a loud missile hit near the hospital. Unaccompanied youngsters climbed over slabs of collapsed concrete to escape the tragedy.
Israeli Military Forced Journalists And Health Workers To Strip In Gaza Hospital Raid, Eyewitnesses Say
According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, at least 3,000 displaced individuals, patients, and staff attempted to seek refuge behind the facility’s walls before the tragic raid. Israeli snipers and helicopter fire targeted those attempting to flee, the ministry reported on Monday.
Mahmoud Basal, Gaza’s civil defense spokesman, claimed on Thursday that displaced Palestinians from Al-Shifa Hospital told “many stories about humiliation and beatings there after they had left and walked long distances.”
He told CNN that Israeli soldiers had destroyed and bombed houses in the region, leaving dead and injured Palestinians on the streets. Gaza Civil Defense personnel could still not approach the hospital location due to the hazard.
It came when Basal claimed that citizens inside the hospital had spoken about interrogations, killings, and torture. The Israeli army was evacuating wounded people from inside the hospital “even when they cannot walk or move,” he claimed on Wednesday, adding that these people were reaching the Baptist Hospital three kilometers away “in a very difficult condition.”
SOURCE – (CNN)
