Gaza medical staff tortured by Israeli soldiers in hospital raid: BBC investigation

BBC received footage secretly filmed in the hospital when the medics were detained on Feb. 16. (BBC)
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Updated 12 March 2024
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Gaza medical staff tortured by Israeli soldiers in hospital raid: BBC investigation

  • Doctor recalls being taken to the toilet, beaten, and had muzzled dogs set on him.
  • "I was standing with my hands raised above my head and my face looking down for three hours," he says

LONDON: Palestinian medical staff in Gaza have reported to the BBC their experiences of being blindfolded, detained, stripped, and repeatedly beaten by Israeli soldiers following a raid on their hospital in February.

On Feb. 15, Israel Defense Forces raided the Nasser hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis, one of the few in the Gaza Strip that was still functioning at the time.

The BBC received footage secretly filmed in the hospital when the medics were detained on Feb. 16.

It shows a row of men, stripped down to their underwear, kneeling with their hands bound behind their heads outside the emergency department.

Over several weeks, the BBC conducted investigations into the incident, interviewing a range of hospital staff and displaced individuals residing in the hospital’s courtyard, and corroborating the details of the accounts.

Those released from detention, along with other medical staff, shared with the BBC that the maternity ward, known as Mubarak, was repurposed as an interrogation and abuse site by the IDF.

Dr. Ahmed Abu Sabha, a hospital doctor, described being taken to the location, which he likened to “a torture place.”

He said: “They put me on a chair, and it was like a gallows. I heard sounds of ropes, so I thought I was going to be executed.

“After that they broke a bottle and it (the glass) cut my leg and they left it to bleed. Then they started bringing doctor after doctor in and started putting them next to each other. I was hearing their names and their voices.”

Abu Sabha added that he spent a week in detention. His account closely resembled that of two other medics who preferred to remain anonymous for fear of repercussions.

All three detainees interviewed by the BBC said that they were crammed into military vehicles and beaten while being transported in large groups. Soldiers beat them with sticks, hoses, rifle buttstocks, and fists, they added.

One of the medics who wished to remain anonymous said: “We were naked. Just wearing boxers. They piled us on top of each other. And they took us out of Gaza. All along the way we were being hit and sworn at and humiliated. And they poured cold water on us.”

Abu Sabha said: “They took us to a patch of ground covered in gravel, forced us to kneel down, and our eyes were blindfolded. There was a pit in the ground, and we thought they would execute us and bury us here. We all started prayers.”

The two other detainees who were released claimed that they were given medical checks but no medication at some point. One claimed that instead of receiving treatment for an injury, an IDF soldier struck him where he was injured.

Abu Sabha told the BBC the men were routinely punished for “infractions.” He said: “At one point, the blindfold moved down a bit and my hands were handcuffed from behind and I could not fix it.

“They took me out for punishment. I was standing with my hands raised above my head and my face looking down for three hours.

Then, he (a soldier) asked me to come to him. When I did, he kept hitting my hand until it was broken.”

He was later taken to the toilet, beaten, and had muzzled dogs set on him.

The next day, an Israeli doctor fitted him with a cast, which soldiers then drew a Star of David on, he added. The cast was later changed by a doctor in Gaza, and Ahmed wore it during his BBC interview.

The BBC verified that after his capture, Abu Sabha had an X-ray and received treatment for a broken hand at a field hospital in Gaza, where he arrived in a cast with a Star of David drawn on it.

None of the medics were formally charged, though interrogation seemed to center on the potential presence of hostages or Hamas militants within the hospital premises.

One of the released detainees claimed that two days after being interrogated, IDF officers informed him that there was no evidence, and he would be released.

“I asked him, ‘who will compensate me for all the beatings and humiliation I’ve been through, that you did to me, while I knew that I wasn’t involved in anything?’ He started muttering, ‘I don’t have anything on you. No charges.’”

Abu Sabha told the BBC he was never interrogated during his eight days of detention.

The three medics we spoke with said they were blindfolded and transported back to Gaza after being released.

According to a humanitarian law expert, the footage and testimony of the medical staff interviewed by the BBC were “extremely concerning.” He said that some of the accounts provided to the BBC “very clearly cross over into the category of cruel and inhumane treatment.”

Dr. Lawrence Hill-Cawthorne, co-director of the University of Bristol’s Centre for International Law, said: “It goes against what has for a long time been a very fundamental idea in the law that applies in armed conflict, which is that hospitals and medical staff are protected.”
 


Palestinian teenager with US citizenship shot dead by Israeli settler, Palestinian officials say

Updated 16 sec ago
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Palestinian teenager with US citizenship shot dead by Israeli settler, Palestinian officials say

  • Settler violence in the West Bank, including incursions into occupied territory and raids on Bedouin villages and encampments, has intensified since the Gaza war began in October 2023

RAMALLAH: A Palestinian teenager with US citizenship was killed after being shot by an Israeli settler in the West Bank town of Turmus Ayya, Palestinian officials said on Sunday, as tensions continue to escalate amid a surge in settler violence and near-daily confrontations between Israeli settlers and Palestinians across the occupied territory.
Omar Mohammad Rabea, 14, was shot along with two other teenagers by an Israeli settler at the entrance to Turmus Ayya, the town’s mayor, Adeeb Lafi, told Reuters.
“Two of them were transported by ambulance to a nearby medical center and then to the hospital. The army arrived at the scene and detained the third injured boy, who is 14 years old and holds US citizenship,” Lafi said.
The army later pronounced Rabea dead and is still holding his body, Lafi added. The Palestinian health ministry confirmed his death, saying he was killed by “occupation forces.”
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli army.
Settler violence in the West Bank, including incursions into occupied territory and raids on Bedouin villages and encampments, has intensified since the Gaza war began in October 2023.
European countries and the previous US administration under President Joe Biden imposed sanctions on violent Israeli settlers, though the White House under President Donald Trump removed these sanctions.

 


Syria’s president to visit Turkiye and UAE next week

Updated 12 min 6 sec ago
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Syria’s president to visit Turkiye and UAE next week

  • Sharaa and other members of the new Syrian leadership have been working to strengthen ties with both Arab and Western leaders following the fall of Bashar Assad in a lightning offensive in December, led by Sharaa’s group, Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham

BEIRUT: Syria’s President Ahmed Al-Sharaa will make his first visit to the United Arab Emirates and is also scheduled to visit Turkiye next week, the Syrian foreign ministry said in a statement on Sunday, as he continues to garner support for the new administration.
Sharaa, who previously visited Turkiye in February, will make the UAE his second Gulf destination after traveling to
Saudi Arabia that same month on his first foreign trip since assuming the presidency in January.
He and other members of the new Syrian leadership have been working to strengthen ties with both Arab and Western leaders following the fall of Bashar Assad in a lightning offensive in December, led by Sharaa’s Sunni Islamist group, Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham.
Sharaa and his officials have also called for a full lifting of sanctions on Syria.
Syria is in desperate need of sanctions relief to kick start an economy collapsed by nearly 14 years of war, during which the United States, the UK and Europe placed tough sanctions on people, businesses and whole sectors of Syria’s economy in a bid to squeeze now-ousted leader Assad.

 


Moroccans protest Israel’s offensive in Gaza and take aim at Trump

Updated 22 min 11 sec ago
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Moroccans protest Israel’s offensive in Gaza and take aim at Trump

  • Moroccan authorities tolerate most protests, but have arrested some activists who have rallied in front of businesses or foreign embassies or implicated the monarchy in their complaints
  • More than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed as part of Israel’s offensive, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t say whether those killed are civilians or combatants

RABAT, Morocco: Tens of thousands of Moroccans on Sunday protested Israel’s latest offensive in Gaza, putting fury toward US President Donald Trump near the center of their grievances.
In the largest protest Morocco has seen in months, demonstrators denounced Israel, the United States and their own government. Some stepped on Israeli flags, held banners showing slain Hamas leaders and waved posters juxtaposing Trump alongside displaced Palestinians fleeing their homes.
Organizers condemned Israel’s ongoing military operation in Gaza. Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed since Israel renewed air and ground strikes last month, aimed at pressuring Hamas to release remaining hostages.

Women lift a banner during a national march in support of Palestinians and against Morocco's normalisation of ties with Israel, in the capital Rabat on April 6, 2025. (AFP)

Such protests have erupted across the Middle East and North Africa, where leaders typically worry about demonstrations undermining domestic stability. Pro-Palestinian rallies were also staged this weekend in the capitals of Tunisia and Yemen as well as in Morocco’s most populous city Casablanca.
In countries that have historically aligned with the US, anti-Trump backlash has emerged as a theme. Demonstrators in Rabat on Sunday condemned his proposal to displace millions of Palestinians to make way for the redevelopment of Gaza. as well as the US efforts to pursue pro-Palestinian activists.
Still, many Moroccans said they saw Trump’s policies as mostly consistent with his predecessor, Joe Biden’s.
“(Trump) has made the war worse,” said Mohammed Toussi, who traveled from Casablanca with his family to protest.
“Biden hid some things but Trump has shown it all,” he added, likening their positions but not their messaging.
Protesters, Toussi said, remain angry about Morocco’s 2020 decision to normalize ties with Israel.
Abdelhak El Arabi, an adviser to Morocco’s former Islamist prime minister, said the reasons Moroccans were protesting had grown throughout the war. He predicted popular anger would continue until the war ends.
“It’s not a war, Gaza is getting erased from the earth,” the 62-year-old Tamesna resident said.
Demonstrations have included a range of groups, including the Islamist association al Adl Wal Ihsan. Moroccan authorities tolerate most protests, but have arrested some activists who have rallied in front of businesses or foreign embassies or implicated the monarchy in their complaints.
The war began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages. Most have since been released in ceasefire agreements and other deals. More than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed as part of Israel’s offensive, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t say whether those killed are civilians or combatants. The war has left most of Gaza in ruins, and at its height displaced around 90 percent of the population.

 


Sudan activists sound alarm on ‘catastrophic’ situation in besieged Darfur city

Updated 06 April 2025
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Sudan activists sound alarm on ‘catastrophic’ situation in besieged Darfur city

  • According to UN estimates, around two million people face extreme food insecurity in North Darfur state, with 320,000 already suffering famine conditions

KHARTOUM: Civilians trapped in Sudan’s El-Fasher city are facing “catastrophic” conditions, activists warned on Sunday, with their situation rapidly deteriorating amid a months-long paramilitary siege.
The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have taken most of the vast Darfur region in their war against the regular army since April 2023, but El-Fasher in North Darfur remains the only regional state capital the RSF has not conquered.
A local advocacy group, the Darfur General Coordination of Camps for the Displaced and Refugees, said in a statement that residents “bear the brunt of artillery shelling” and live “with the sounds of aircraft and their terrifying and deadly missiles, in addition to the daily suffering of hunger, disease and drought.”
Life in El-Fasher and other areas of Darfur “has come to a complete standstill,” the group said, with no food at markets and a “complete halt” in humanitarian aid.
There was a sharp rise in prices of basic commodities and “a severe shortage in cash,” it added, warning of an “unprecedented and catastrophic deterioration” in already dire conditions in and around El-Fasher.
The RSF-aligned armed group Sudan Liberation Army called on Saturday for civilians in El-Fasher and the nearby displacement camps of Abu Shouk and Zamzan to leave, warning of an “escalation of military operations.”
Another RSF ally, the Gathering of Sudan Liberation Forces, said it was ready to “provide safe corridors” for residents to leave and head to “liberated areas” under paramilitary control.
In late March, the RSF announced its fighters had seized Al-Malha, which lies at the foot of a mountainous region 200 kilometers (124 miles) northeast of El-Fasher.
Al-Malha is one of the northernmost towns in the vast desert region between Sudan and Libya, where the RSF’s critical resupply lines have come under increasing attack in recent months by army-allied groups.
The war has created what the United Nations describes as the world’s worst hunger and displacement crises. More than 12 million people have been uprooted, tens of thousands killed and a UN-backed assessment declared famine in parts of the country.
According to UN estimates, around two million people face extreme food insecurity in North Darfur state, with 320,000 already suffering famine conditions.
Zamzam is one of three displacement camps around El-Fasher hit by famine, which a UN-backed assessment says is expected to spread to five more areas including the state capital itself by May.


Israeli strikes on Gaza kill 32, mostly women and children

Updated 06 April 2025
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Israeli strikes on Gaza kill 32, mostly women and children

  • The latest Israeli strikes overnight into Sunday hit a tent and a house in the southern city of Khan Younis, killing five men, five women and five children, according to Nasser Hospital, which received the bodies

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip: Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip killed at least 32 people, including over a dozen women and children, local health officials said Sunday, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu headed to the United States to meet with President Donald Trump about the war.
Israel last month ended its ceasefire with Hamas and renewed its air and ground offensive, carrying out waves of strikes and seizing territory to pressure the militant group to accept a new deal for a truce and release of remaining hostages. It has also blocked the import of food, fuel and humanitarian aid for over a month to the coastal territory heavily reliant on outside assistance.
“Stocks are getting low and the situation is becoming desperate,” the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees said on social media.
The latest Israeli strikes overnight into Sunday hit a tent and a house in the southern city of Khan Younis, killing five men, five women and five children, according to Nasser Hospital, which received the bodies.
A female journalist was among those killed. “My daughter is innocent. She had no involvement, she loved journalism and adored it,” said her mother, Amal Kaskeen.
The body of one child, under 2 years old, took up just one end of an emergency stretcher.
“Trump wants to end the Gaza issue. He is in a hurry, and that is clear from this morning,” said Mohammad Abdel-Hadi, cousin of a woman killed.
Israeli shelling killed at least four people in the Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The bodies of seven people, including a child and three women, arrived at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza, according to an Associated Press journalist there.
And a strike in Gaza City hit people waiting outside a bakery and killed at least six, including three children, according to the civil defense, which operates under the Hamas-run government.
Israel’s military said about 10 projectiles were fired from Gaza and most were intercepted, in the largest barrage from the territory since Israel resumed the war. Hamas’ military arm claimed responsibility. Israeli police said some fragments fell in Ashkelon city. There were no reports of injuries.
Netanyahu visits Trump amid anti-war protests
Dozens of Palestinians took to the streets in Jabaliya for a new round of anti-war protests. Footage circulating on social media showed people marching and chanting against Hamas. Such protests, while rare, have occurred in recent weeks.
There is also anger inside Israel over the war’s resumption and its effects on remaining hostages in Gaza. Families of hostages along with some of those recently freed from Gaza and their supporters on Saturday urged Trump to help ensure the fighting ends.
Netanyahu on Monday will meet with Trump for the second time since Trump began his latest term in January. The prime minister said they would discuss the war and the new 17 percent tariff imposed on Israel, part of a sweeping global decision by the new US administration.
“There is a very large queue of leaders who want to do this with respect to their economies. I think it reflects the special personal connection and the special connection between the United States and Israel, which is so vital at this time,” Netanyahu said while wrapping up a visit to Hungary.
The US, a mediator in ceasefire efforts along with Egypt and Qatar, expressed support for Israel’s resumption of the war last month.
The toll of war
Hundreds of Palestinians since then have been killed, among them 15 medics whose bodies were recovered only a week later. Israel’s military this weekend backtracked on its account of what happened in the incident, captured in part on video, that caused anger by Red Cross and Red Crescent and UN officials.
The war began when Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage. Fifty-nine hostages are still held in Gaza — 24 believed to be alive — after most of the rest were released in ceasefires or other deals.
Israel’s offensive has killed at least 50,695 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many were civilians or combatants but says more than half were women and children. It says another 115,338 people have been wounded. Israel says it has killed around 20,000 militants, without providing evidence.