In a new crime against medical personnel; Palestinian doctor Iyad Rantisi, from the Gaza Strip, has died in Israeli custody while being investigated by the Israeli domestic security service, the Shin Bet, only a week after his arrest last November, Israeli media reported.
Haaretz Hebrew newspaper revealed that Dr. Iyad Rantisi, 53, the head of a women’s hospital in northern Gaza’s Beit Lahia, was detained by the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) last November in a Shin Bet interrogation facility in Ashkelon. He died only a week later under torture.
Director General of the Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip, Munir Al-Bursh, said that Dr. Rantisi has been subjected to severe torture since his arrest.
Last May, the IOF tortured to death the head of the orthopedic department at Al-Shifa Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip, Dr. Adnan Al-Bursh.
Al-Bursh was assassinated after being subjected to brutal torture in “Ofer” prison near Ramallah in the West Bank on April 19, and his death was announced in May. However, his body is still withheld in Israeli morgues.
Since October 7, 2023, the IOF has been waging a devastating war on the Gaza Strip, resulting in catastrophic humanitarian and health conditions, due to the continuous bombing and the prevention of supplies of food, water, medicine, and electricity.
The Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip constitutes a blatant violation of international humanitarian law and human rights, as it exposes the lives and property of civilians to extreme danger, which requires urgent intervention from the international community to stop the aggression and protect civilians in the Gaza Strip.
This international community must force the IOF to adhere to international laws and treaties on human rights and international humanitarian law. They must be obliged to protect the rights and lives of civilians, prohibit their targeting and preserve their safety, and punish the leaders responsible for committing war crimes in the Gaza Strip and elsewhere.
