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<a class="gmail-domain gmail-reader-domain" href="https://peoplesdispatch.org/2024/01/18/fate-of-palestinian-health-workers-kidnapped-by-israeli-forces-remains-uncertain/">peoplesdispatch.org</a>
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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Fate of Palestinian health workers kidnapped by Israeli forces remains uncertain</h1>
<div class="gmail-page-excerpts"> <p>The status of health workers arrested by
Israeli Occupying Forces in northern Gaza remains uncertain as attacks
on health infrastructure continue</p>
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<a href="https://peoplesdispatch.org/2024/01/18/fate-of-palestinian-health-workers-kidnapped-by-israeli-forces-remains-uncertain/">January 18, 2024</a> by <a href="https://peoplesdispatch.org/2024/01/18/fate-of-palestinian-health-workers-kidnapped-by-israeli-forces-remains-uncertain/"></a><a href="https://peoplesdispatch.org/author/ana-vracar/">Ana Vračar</a>
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<div class="gmail-moz-reader-content gmail-reader-show-element"><div id="gmail-readability-page-1" class="gmail-page"><img src="cid:ii_lrjg1b6j0" alt="DrMuhannaAwda-2.jpg" width="417" height="235"><br><p>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
</p><div>
<p>One month ago, Ahmed Muhanna, the director of Al-Awda Hospital in Jabalya, northern Gaza, was <a href="https://peoplesdispatch.org/2023/12/19/palestinian-and-international-networks-demand-israel-release-hospital-director-dr-ahmed-muhanna/">detained</a>
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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<h3><em><b>Read more: </b><a href="https://peoplesdispatch.org/2023/11/29/the-prison-became-a-graveyard-following-october-7-palestinian-women-and-children-share-horrors-of-imprisonment/"><b>“The prison became a graveyard following October 7”: Palestinian women and children share horrors of imprisonment</b></a></em></h3>
<p>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, <a href="https://twitter.com/GhassanAbuSitt1/status/1737105634141634938">predict </a>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>“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, <a href="https://www.msf.org/evacuation-orders-and-bombing-around-gaza-hospitals-leaves-few-healthcare-options">commenting</a> on the organization shifting its operations from Al-Aqsa Hospital.</p>
<p>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 <a href="https://twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1YqKDgOXNgLxV">priority</a> for international organizations, including the World Health Organization (WHO).</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>During a <a href="https://twitter.com/WHOoPt/status/1746867659818344901">visit </a>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.</p>
<h3><em><b>Read more: </b><a href="https://peoplesdispatch.org/2024/01/17/israel-is-destroying-gazas-food-system-and-weaponizing-food-say-un-experts/"><b>Israel is destroying Gaza’s food system and weaponizing food, say UN experts</b></a></em></h3>
<p>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,” <a href="https://twitter.com/WHOEMRO/status/1746854256659824811">according </a>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>“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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p><b><i>People’s Health Dispatch</i></b> <i>is a fortnightly bulletin published by the</i><a href="http://www.phmovement.org/"> <b><i>People’s Health Movement</i></b></a> <i>and </i><b><i>Peoples Dispatch</i></b><i>. For more articles and subscription to People’s Health Dispatch, click</i><a href="https://peoples-health-dispatch.ghost.io/"> <b><i>here</i></b></a><b><i>.</i></b></p>
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