This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman.
Negotiations between Israel and Hamas have begun in Cairo, Egypt, over the next phase of the Gaza ceasefire. In recent weeks, Hamas has released 33 Israeli hostages in return for some 2,000 Palestinians imprisoned in Israel.
We turn now to look at a new report by Physicians for Human Rights-Israel titled “Unlawfully Detained, Tortured, and Starved: The Plight of Gaza’s Medical Workers in Israeli Custody.” The report documents how Israel systematically imprisoned and abused Palestinian doctors and medical staff from Gaza.
The list of jailed Palestinian doctors includes the Gaza pediatrician Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, who was detained at Kamal Adwan Hospital in December. Many in Gaza had hoped he would be among those freed this week, but he remains in Israeli detention. This is a recently freed Palestinian prisoner named Hakim describing what Dr. Abu Safiya has been exposed to in detention.
HAKIM: [translated] Dr. Hussam was beaten, especially Dr. Hussam and us, the medical staff, out of all other captives. They beat us, cursed at us and starved us. And they started punching him. “Are you the doctor? Come here.” And they’d beat him. We were under the impression that he was released. But apparently, and according to you, he still hasn’t been freed. We call upon all those concerned with this matter. Dr. Hussam established and built the healthcare system. He’s its pillar. Dr. Hussam is the pillar of the healthcare system in the northern Gaza Strip. He resisted, and despite the lack of treatment, he remained steadfast. When the entire medical staff was injured, he remained steadfast. We thought that we were going to hell, to death. There are places over there that are named after hell.
AMY GOODMAN: We’re joined right now by Naji Abbas, the director of the Prisoners Department, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel. He collected the testimonies for the group’s new report, “Unlawfully Detained, Tortured, and Starved: The Plight of Gaza’s Medical Workers in Israeli Custody.”
And in Gaza, we are joined by Dr. Khaled Alser, renowned Palestinian surgeon at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. He was jailed by Israel for seven months last year. He says he was beaten, humiliated, denied medical treatment and tortured. No charges were filed against him. Dr. Alser was abducted by Israeli forces during a raid on Gaza’s Nasser Hospital last March. At the time, he was one of the last remaining general surgeons in the hospital. Dr. Alser is also the lead author of the August 2024 report in The Lancet headlined “Trauma care supported through a global telemedicine initiative during the 2023–24 military assault on the Gaza Strip, occupied Palestinian territory: a case series.” At the time of publication, the medical journal The Lancet put “lead author whereabouts currently unknown.”
Dr. Khaled Alser, we’re going to begin with you in Gaza, outside the hospital where you work. You were recently released from Israeli detention. Can you explain what happened to you?
DR. KHALED ALSER: Hello to you and to your audience.
It happened to me last March ’24. I was working in this hospital, after it has been destructed by the Israeli army, IDF. They destroyed all of the departments. At that time, we tried to reopen the hospital again, trying to clean the floors, clean the department, trying to open it is a medical point at least to receive casualties. Back in March, there was a lot of threats against Palestinians in Rafah, that Netanyahu threatened that he will invade Rafah. So we tried to repair the hospital to receive casualties at that time, when we were surprised that the soldiers invaded the whole city and the hospital zone within one hour, shooting anyone walking in the street, and they brought a siege around the hospital for two days.
After that, they ordered us to go outside the building, and they ordered us to take off our clothes. And they brought us naked, handcuffed from behind with plastic ties, and they handcuffed — they put plastic around our ankles, with blindfolds over our eyes. And they kept us under interrogation here near the hospital in the civilian building for five days under continuous interrogation from the soldiers. At that time — at that time, I have been asked several questions. All of them are related to my job. They did not know anything about me, did not know Khaled. They only asked two questions. They asked me about my job as a general surgeon here at Nasser Hospital, what I did during the war inside the hospital. And after that, this was the only question they decided to take me to the prison for.
AMY GOODMAN: So, can you explain where you were taken to, Dr. Alser? Explain the interrogations you went through.
DR. KHALED ALSER: I underwent interrogation like five times, two times here in the hospital field during the invasion of the soldiers to the hospital zone. And after that, they took me in a military vehicle going toward Israel. During my stay inside the prison, I did not know anything about my position, which prison I am in, except with one time when my — I have a visit from my lawyer, who told me that I was in Sde Teiman prison for three months. And after that, they sent me, on 18th of June, to Ofer military camp prison. All of these prisons are new prisons developed or established during the October 7 war. And most of the prisoners I met inside the prison are civilians or civil workers here, working inside hospitals, schools, universities. During the interrogation here in the field and inside the prison, they took me three times to the interrogation. All of their questions related to the hospital, to the department in the hospital, if I saw any hostage inside the hospital, and that’s all.
And even after two months, before any interrogation inside the hospital, they decided to make like a fake court for me. They took me outside the prison in Sde Teiman. I was in Sde Teiman. They called my name. They took me outside the prison, handcuffed me from behind, and my covered — they’re covering my eyes with a piece of cloth. And they put me in the chair. And after they removed the blindfold, I was surprised with a video call on the phone, someone telling me that “You are now in a court, and you are charged to be a terrorist, to be inside the prison until the end of the war,” without any prior announcement. I argued with the man who was talking with me that I did not have any legal consultation, I did not have a chance to call any lawyer. But they ignore anything we talk. They just want to take the picture, the video for us, charging us with a fake charge. And actually, I did not have an actual interrogation or an actual saying for me before this court. In June, they took me twice to the interrogation with the same questions. All of them regarded my work at Nasser Hospital during the war in the general surgery department.
AMY GOODMAN: Can you talk about who ran the prison and how they punish prisoners? Are we talking about the notorious Sde Teiman, or were you also at Ofer? Can you talk about what I was reading about your testimony, beatings and unleashing pepper spray in the face?
DR. KHALED ALSER: If I want to talk about the brutality of the soldiers inside Sde Teiman, I will take more than one day or two days speaking in details about their brutality. In short, anyone inside Sde Teiman at least once faced beating by batons, by fists, kicking, or even get bitten by the dogs. They entered every one week or twice weekly. They have a Force 100. They enter without prior warning or announcement inside the place. It’s not a prison. It’s just an open area, closed with a metallic fence. They entered this area with 100 prisoners. They ordered all the prisoners on their tummy. And after that, they choose randomly anyone inside the prison to beat him with a baton or to spray him with pepper spray. And sometimes — I heard a lot of testimony from prisoners inside the prison. They came to me seeking a medical advice, because they have sexually assaulted by the soldiers using batons and sometimes using the electrical guns in their sensitive areas. And sometimes they spray their faces and their private parts by pepper spray. All of this happened to me. Every one week, we have one incident of invasion of these forces to our stay inside Sde Teiman.
AMY GOODMAN: And, I mean, right now — we were trying to reach you all day yesterday. You’re doing operation after operation. Right in front of you is the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. You were held in prison for a number of months. During your stay, you met other doctors, Dr. Mohammed Shahada, Dr. Wael Abdelhadi and Dr. Iyas al-Bursh. Isn’t Dr. Iyas al-Bursh the relative of the well-known doctor who was found — whose body was found dead at Ofer military — at Ofer prison, Dr. Adnan al-Bursh?
DR. KHALED ALSER: Yes, they are relatives. Dr. Iyas al-Bursh is a volunteer doctor. He was working in Al-Shifa. I have a chance to meet him inside Sde Teiman. And also inside Ofer camp, I met Iyas al-Bursh. He’s a relative of Dr. al-Bursh, who was killed inside Ofer. He has been released recently, I think. And also, Dr. Mohammed Shahada has been released.
But ’til now, after more than one year of invasion of Nasser complex, Nasser Hospital, we still have a lot of medical staff inside the prison. We are waiting them to be released soon. One of them, Dr. Nahed Abu Taima, is the lead and the head of the surgical building behind me, is the head of all surgical departments, also Dr. Ghassan Abu Zuhri, the head of the orthopedic department. They were captured and detained back in February ’24. Until now, we are still waiting their release, because no actual charge has been written against them.
AMY GOODMAN: Finally, what message do you have for the world, Dr. Khaled Alser? Many families were hoping missing doctors and medical staff would be released in the latest prisoner exchange. It was thought that Dr. Abu Safiya, well-known head of Kamal Adwan, the pediatrician, would be released. There’s been video shown of him, but he hasn’t been. What’s your message to the world, recently freed, right back in the hospital performing operations, Dr. Alser?
DR. KHALED ALSER: Speaking on behalf of all of the health workers who has been either injured, detained during this war or all of my colleagues who has been killed during this war, we as healthcare workers, we don’t have any agenda against anyone. We just provide medical care for all civilians, for anyone coming to the hospital seeking for the help, for our help. I remember back in January and February, I was here the only surgeon, the last hope for all patients in Khan Younis city, trying to rescue our patients. So, we don’t have any military or any agenda behind doing our work.
So, please, do your effort, to all the international community to do your effort, to get released all of my colleagues inside the prison who are still now, without any charge, kept in detention. And actually, it’s not detention; they are kidnapped. And actually, they are kidnapped. They are not in a human situation or human-suitable situation inside the prison. So, please, as soon as possible, do your effort to get them all out free within us.
AMY GOODMAN: Dr. Khaled Alser, I want to thank you so much for stepping outside the hospital and talking to us today, Palestinian surgeon at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis who was jailed for months at the notorious Sde Teiman and then Ofer prison, recently released.
