Israeli rights group says Gaza doctors faced systematic abuse in detention

An Israeli human rights group says Palestinian doctors from Gaza have faced systematic abuse in Israeli military detention, including starvation and medical neglect “amounting to torture.”

The report by Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, released Wednesday, is based on interviews with 24 doctors who spent time in Israel’s network of military detention facilities.

Doctors said they were treated especially harshly because they were physicians. Israel raided hospitals in Gaza on several occasions, saying Hamas was using them for military purposes but rarely providing evidence.

Many of the medical workers said they were beaten, including an ambulance driver who said soldiers knocked out a dental filling. Others recounted being strung up by their wrists and having cigarettes extinguished on them.

Israel’s military and prison service did not respond to a request for comment. In response to previous inquiries, Israeli authorities have said they act according to the law and investigate and punish any wrongdoing by individuals.