[News] Fate of Palestinian health workers kidnapped by Israeli forces remains uncertain

[Anti-Imperialist News]

peoplesdispatch.org
<https://peoplesdispatch.org/2024/01/18/fate-of-palestinian-health-workers-kidnapped-by-israeli-forces-remains-uncertain/>
Fate of Palestinian health workers kidnapped by Israeli forces remains
uncertain

The status of health workers arrested by Israeli Occupying Forces in
northern Gaza remains uncertain as attacks on health infrastructure continue
January 18, 2024
<https://peoplesdispatch.org/2024/01/18/fate-of-palestinian-health-workers-kidnapped-by-israeli-forces-remains-uncertain/>
by
<https://peoplesdispatch.org/2024/01/18/fate-of-palestinian-health-workers-kidnapped-by-israeli-forces-remains-uncertain/>Ana
Vračar <https://peoplesdispatch.org/author/ana-vracar/>
------------------------------
[image: DrMuhannaAwda-2.jpg]

Al-Awda Hospital Manager Dr. Ahmed Muhanna was arrested by Israeli Forces
on December 17, 2023 and his whereabouts are unknown. Photo: People's
Health Movement

One month ago, Ahmed Muhanna, the director of Al-Awda Hospital in Jabalya,
northern Gaza, was detained
<https://peoplesdispatch.org/2023/12/19/palestinian-and-international-networks-demand-israel-release-hospital-director-dr-ahmed-muhanna/>
by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF). According to the most recent
information made available to Awda Association, the anesthetist is
currently being held in Naqab prison in the Negev desert, with other
details about his status remaining unknown.

Dr. Muhanna’s fate is shared by many other health workers who were arrested
during the ongoing Israeli war on the Gaza Strip. Mohammed Al-Ran, a
surgeon who worked at the Indonesian, Kamal Adwan, and Al-Ahli hospitals
since October 7, is currently also imprisoned by the Israeli authorities,
although he had been granted permission to leave for Bosnia.

Sparse information about his health conditions and location, much like that
of Dr. Muhanna, is communicated through friends and relatives who have
either witnessed the arrest or met Dr. Al-Ran while in prison. The IOF has
remained silent unless faced with pressure, usually from abroad.
*Read more: “The prison became a graveyard following October 7”:
Palestinian women and children share horrors of imprisonment
<https://peoplesdispatch.org/2023/11/29/the-prison-became-a-graveyard-following-october-7-palestinian-women-and-children-share-horrors-of-imprisonment/>*

The arrest of several directors of Gaza’s hospitals has mostly been
interpreted as a sign of the next phase of Israel’s attacks on healthcare
in the Strip. Some, like surgeon Ghassan Abu-Sittah, predict
<https://twitter.com/GhassanAbuSitt1/status/1737105634141634938>that this
will lead to a series of show trials to further the criminalization and
persecution of the sector. Others, including sources close to Awda,
consider it possible that the doctors will be held in prison for a
prolonged period of time, with their post-war destiny unknown.

Different interpretations converge on one point, though. They all note that
the health workers taken by the IOF were strong voices speaking from
northern Gaza and had refused to leave the area and abandon their patients.
In other words, they constituted a thorn in the side of the army that
breaks international law every time it targets health infrastructure in
Palestine.

While arresting and targeting health workers to silence them, Israeli
soldiers continue to attack hospitals and health centers in Gaza. As a
result of the ongoing attacks, many international organizations have been
forced to abandon their operations for good or move to the southern
regions. Among them were the Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) and
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) teams.

“Drone strikes, sniper fire and bombardments in the close vicinity of the
hospital made the space too unsafe to work in. The volatile conditions
leave us feeling incapacitated; there’s virtually no secure space to
provide even minimal medical care to people,” said Enrico Vallaperta, MSF
Project Medical Referent, commenting
<https://www.msf.org/evacuation-orders-and-bombing-around-gaza-hospitals-leaves-few-healthcare-options>
on the organization shifting its operations from Al-Aqsa Hospital.

Yet, health workers are not giving up on protecting health infrastructure
in Gaza, including in Al-Awda centers in Nuseirat and Rafah. In fact,
safeguarding and reactivating the local health system remains a priority
<https://twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1YqKDgOXNgLxV> for international
organizations, including the World Health Organization (WHO).

The WHO also continues to conduct visits to the remaining hospitals in
Gaza. Although the situation can change in a matter of hours – with
hospitals going from partially operational at 10 am to completely out of
function by 2 pm – generally they are all working multiple times over their
capacity as well as trying to shelter thousands of forcibly displaced
people.

During a visit <https://twitter.com/WHOoPt/status/1746867659818344901>conducted
on January 13, the WHO team found Al-Aqsa Hospital and Nasser Medical
Complex short-staffed and crowded. In Al-Aqsa, there were only 12 health
workers remaining, providing care to 140 people and sharing space with over
1,000 displaced people. Nasser held twice the number of patients it was
supposed to accommodate. “The hospital continues to receive a high volume
of trauma and burn cases but the ICU and burns unit are severely
understaffed, delaying lifesaving treatment for many,” the WHO team
reported back.
*Read more: Israel is destroying Gaza’s food system and weaponizing food,
say UN experts
<https://peoplesdispatch.org/2024/01/17/israel-is-destroying-gazas-food-system-and-weaponizing-food-say-un-experts/>*

Unsurprisingly, the situation continues to be ripe for the spread of
communicable diseases. Before October 7, “immunization levels in Gaza were
among the best globally,” according
<https://twitter.com/WHOEMRO/status/1746854256659824811>to Rana Ahmad
Hajjeh from the WHO Eastern Mediterranean office. Now, without coolers and
fuel to operate them, there is little hope in rolling out vaccination
campaigns that could help curb major outbreaks.

Even when the WHO and other international organizations are able to get
vaccines into Gaza, the IOF does not allow them to distribute them in the
northern areas. Multiple missions over the past weeks had to be canceled
due to the lack of security guarantees on the Israeli side. This has meant
that medicines, as well as fuel needed to operate generators, are simply
not where they should be.

“In the 21st century, most medical equipment operates on electricity.
Unfortunately, electricity has become a scarce commodity [in Gaza],”
observed Ayadil Saparbekov from WHO’s Health Emergencies program.

Amid ongoing communication blackouts, it is not only electricity that has
become a scarce commodity. The same is true for information coming directly
from health workers in Gaza; without that information, the fate of Dr.
Muhanna, Dr. Al-Ran, and others remains difficult to predict.

*People’s Health Dispatch* *is a fortnightly bulletin published by
the* *People’s
Health Movement* <http://www.phmovement.org/> *and **Peoples Dispatch**.
For more articles and subscription to People’s Health Dispatch, click*
*here* <https://peoples-health-dispatch.ghost.io/>*.*
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