Dr. Khaled Alser, a famend Palestinian surgeon at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, describes how Israeli forces kidnapped him from Gaza final yr earlier than transferring him to Israeli prisons rife with abuse. He was held by Israel for seven months final yr, throughout which era he says he was overwhelmed, humiliated, denied medical remedy and tortured. He additionally describes routine sexual assault and sexual humiliation of prisoners by Israeli troopers, in addition to the usage of army assault canine on the detainees. No fees had been filed in opposition to Alser earlier than he was launched again to Gaza. “A lot of the prisoners I met contained in the jail are civilians or civil staff right here, working inside hospitals, faculties, universities,” Alser tells Democracy Now! from Gaza. “We as healthcare staff, we don’t have any agenda in opposition to anybody. We simply present medical care.”
TRANSCRIPT
It is a rush transcript. Copy will not be in its closing type.
AMY GOODMAN: That is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The Warfare and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman.
Negotiations between Israel and Hamas have begun in Cairo, Egypt, over the following part of the Gaza ceasefire. In current weeks, Hamas has launched 33 Israeli hostages in return for some 2,000 Palestinians imprisoned in Israel.
We flip now to have a look at a brand new report by Physicians for Human Rights-Israel titled “Unlawfully Detained, Tortured, and Starved: The Plight of Gaza’s Medical Employees in Israeli Custody.” The report paperwork how Israel systematically imprisoned and abused Palestinian docs and medical workers from Gaza.
The checklist of jailed Palestinian docs consists of the Gaza pediatrician Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, who was detained at Kamal Adwan Hospital in December. Many in Gaza had hoped he can be amongst these freed this week, however he stays in Israeli detention. It is a just lately freed Palestinian prisoner named Hakim describing what Dr. Abu Safiya has been uncovered to in detention.
HAKIM: [translated] Dr. Hussam was overwhelmed, particularly Dr. Hussam and us, the medical workers, out of all different captives. They beat us, cursed at us and starved us. And so they began punching him. “Are you the physician? Come right here.” And so they’d beat him. We had been below the impression that he was launched. However apparently, and in accordance with you, he nonetheless hasn’t been freed. We name upon all these involved with this matter. Dr. Hussam established and constructed the healthcare system. He’s its pillar. Dr. Hussam is the pillar of the healthcare system within the northern Gaza Strip. He resisted, and regardless of the shortage of remedy, he remained steadfast. When your complete medical workers was injured, he remained steadfast. We thought that we had been going to hell, to loss of life. There are locations over there which might be named after hell.
AMY GOODMAN: We’re joined proper now by Naji Abbas, the director of the Prisoners Division, 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 Employees in Israeli Custody.”
And in Gaza, we’re joined by Dr. Khaled Alser, famend Palestinian surgeon at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. He was jailed by Israel for seven months final yr. He says he was overwhelmed, humiliated, denied medical remedy and tortured. No fees had been filed in opposition to him. Dr. Alser was kidnapped by Israeli forces throughout a raid on Gaza’s Nasser Hospital final March. On the time, he was one of many final remaining basic surgeons within the hospital. Dr. Alser can be the lead creator of the August 2024 report in The Lancet headlined “Trauma care supported by means of a worldwide telemedicine initiative through the 2023–24 army assault on the Gaza Strip, occupied Palestinian territory: a case collection.” On the time of publication, the medical journal The Lancet put “lead creator whereabouts at the moment unknown.”
Dr. Khaled Alser, we’re going to start with you in Gaza, exterior the hospital the place you’re employed. You had been just lately launched from Israeli detention. Are you able to clarify what occurred to you?
DR. KHALED ALSER: Hey to you and to your viewers.
It occurred to me final March ’24. I used to be working on this hospital, after it has been destructed by the Israeli military, IDF. They destroyed the entire departments. At the moment, we tried to reopen the hospital once more, making an attempt to wash the flooring, clear the division, making an attempt to open it’s a medical level at the least to obtain casualties. Again in March, there was loads of threats in opposition to Palestinians in Rafah, that Netanyahu threatened that he’ll invade Rafah. So we tried to restore the hospital to obtain casualties at the moment, once we had been shocked that the troopers invaded the entire metropolis and the hospital zone inside one hour, taking pictures anybody strolling on the street, and so they introduced a siege across the hospital for 2 days.
After that, they ordered us to go exterior the constructing, and so they ordered us to take off our garments. And so they introduced us bare, handcuffed from behind with plastic ties, and so they handcuffed — they put plastic round our ankles, with blindfolds over our eyes. And so they saved us below interrogation right here close to the hospital within the civilian constructing for 5 days below steady interrogation from the troopers. At the moment — at the moment, I’ve been requested a number of questions. All of them are associated to my job. They didn’t know something about me, didn’t know Khaled. They solely requested two questions. They requested me about my job as a basic surgeon right here at Nasser Hospital, what I did through the battle contained in the hospital. And after that, this was the one query they determined to take me to the jail for.
AMY GOODMAN: So, are you able to clarify the place you had been taken to, Dr. Alser? Clarify the interrogations you went by means of.
DR. KHALED ALSER: I underwent interrogation like 5 instances, two instances right here within the hospital area through the invasion of the troopers to the hospital zone. And after that, they took me in a army automobile going towards Israel. Throughout my keep contained in the jail, I didn’t know something about my place, which jail I’m in, besides with one time when my — I’ve a go to from my lawyer, who advised me that I used to be in Sde Teiman jail for 3 months. And after that, they despatched me, on 18th of June, to Ofer army camp jail. All of those prisons are new prisons developed or established through the October 7 battle. And many of the prisoners I met contained in the jail are civilians or civil staff right here, working inside hospitals, faculties, universities. Through the interrogation right here within the area and contained in the jail, they took me 3 times to the interrogation. All of their questions associated to the hospital, to the division within the hospital, if I noticed any hostage contained in the hospital, and that’s all.
And even after two months, earlier than any interrogation contained in the hospital, they determined to make like a faux courtroom for me. They took me exterior the jail in Sde Teiman. I used to be in Sde Teiman. They known as my identify. They took me exterior the jail, handcuffed me from behind, and my coated — they’re protecting my eyes with a bit of fabric. And so they put me within the chair. And after they eliminated the blindfold, I used to be shocked with a video name on the cellphone, somebody telling me that “You are actually in a courtroom, and you might be charged to be a terrorist, to be contained in the jail till the top of the battle,” with none prior announcement. I argued with the person who was speaking with me that I didn’t have any authorized session, I didn’t have an opportunity to name any lawyer. However they ignore something we discuss. They simply need to take the image, the video for us, charging us with a faux cost. And truly, I didn’t have an precise interrogation or an precise saying for me earlier than this courtroom. In June, they took me twice to the interrogation with the identical questions. All of them regarded my work at Nasser Hospital through the battle within the basic surgical procedure division.
AMY GOODMAN: Are you able to speak about who ran the jail and the way they punish prisoners? Are we speaking concerning the infamous Sde Teiman, or had been you additionally at Ofer? Are you able to speak about what I used to be studying about your testimony, beatings and unleashing pepper spray within the face?
DR. KHALED ALSER: If I need to discuss concerning the brutality of the troopers inside Sde Teiman, I’ll take greater than in the future or two days talking in particulars about their brutality. Briefly, anybody inside Sde Teiman at the least as soon as confronted beating by batons, by fists, kicking, and even get bitten by the canine. They entered each one week or twice weekly. They’ve a Pressure 100. They enter with out prior warning or announcement contained in the place. It’s not a jail. It’s simply an open space, closed with a metallic fence. They entered this space with 100 prisoners. They ordered all of the prisoners on their tummy. And after that, they select randomly anybody contained in the jail to beat him with a baton or to spray him with pepper spray. And generally — I heard loads of testimony from prisoners contained in the jail. They got here to me searching for a medical recommendation, as a result of they’ve sexually assaulted by the troopers utilizing batons and generally utilizing {the electrical} weapons of their delicate areas. And generally they spray their faces and their non-public components by pepper spray. All of this occurred to me. Each one week, now we have one incident of invasion of those forces to our keep inside Sde Teiman.
AMY GOODMAN: And, I imply, proper now — we had been making an attempt to succeed in you all day yesterday. You’re doing operation after operation. Proper in entrance of you is the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. You had been held in jail for a lot of months. Throughout your keep, you met different docs, Dr. Mohammed Shahada, Dr. Wael Abdelhadi and Dr. Iyas al-Bursh. Isn’t Dr. Iyas al-Bursh the relative of the well-known physician who was discovered — whose physique was discovered useless at Ofer army — at Ofer jail, Dr. Adnan al-Bursh?
DR. KHALED ALSER: Sure, they’re relations. Dr. Iyas al-Bursh is a volunteer physician. He was working in Al-Shifa. I’ve an opportunity to fulfill him inside Sde Teiman. And likewise inside Ofer camp, I met Iyas al-Bursh. He’s a relative of Dr. al-Bursh, who was killed inside Ofer. He has been launched just lately, I feel. And likewise, Dr. Mohammed Shahada has been launched.
However ’til now, after multiple yr of invasion of Nasser complicated, Nasser Hospital, we nonetheless have loads of medical workers contained in the jail. We’re ready them to be launched quickly. One in every of them, Dr. Nahed Abu Taima, is the lead and the pinnacle of the surgical constructing behind me, is the pinnacle of all surgical departments, additionally Dr. Ghassan Abu Zuhri, the pinnacle of the orthopedic division. They had been captured and detained again in February ’24. Till now, we’re nonetheless ready their launch, as a result of no precise cost has been written in opposition to them.
AMY GOODMAN: Lastly, what message do you may have for the world, Dr. Khaled Alser? Many households had been hoping lacking docs and medical workers can be launched within the newest prisoner change. It was thought that Dr. Abu Safiya, well-known head of Kamal Adwan, the pediatrician, can be launched. There’s been video proven of him, however he hasn’t been. What’s your message to the world, just lately freed, proper again within the hospital performing operations, Dr. Alser?
DR. KHALED ALSER: Talking on behalf of the entire well being staff who has been both injured, detained throughout this battle or all of my colleagues who has been killed throughout this battle, we as healthcare staff, we don’t have any agenda in opposition to anybody. We simply present medical take care of all civilians, for anybody coming to the hospital searching for for the assistance, for our assist. I keep in mind again in January and February, I used to be right here the one surgeon, the final hope for all sufferers in Khan Younis metropolis, making an attempt to rescue our sufferers. So, we don’t have any army or any agenda behind doing our work.
So, please, do your effort, to all of the worldwide group to do your effort, to get launched all of my colleagues contained in the jail who’re nonetheless now, with none cost, saved in detention. And truly, it’s not detention; they’re kidnapped. And truly, they’re kidnapped. They aren’t in a human state of affairs or human-suitable state of affairs contained in the jail. So, please, as quickly as doable, do your effort to get all of them out free inside us.
AMY GOODMAN: Dr. Khaled Alser, I need to thanks a lot for stepping exterior the hospital and speaking to us at this time, Palestinian surgeon at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis who was jailed for months on the infamous Sde Teiman after which Ofer jail, just lately launched.
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