Gaza doctors 'arrested for practising medicine' and held by Israel as health system collapses

Directors of Al Awda and Kamal Adwan hospitals are among at least 360 Palestinian medics detained by Israel

A Palestinian doctor stands in the rubble at Al Ahli Baptist Hospital after an Israeli air strike in Gaza city. EPA

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Dr Ahmad Mhanna, 51, director of Al Awda Hospital in northern Gaza, is one of at least 360 Palestinian medical professionals detained by Israeli forces since October 7, 2023.

His family and colleagues say he is now among dozens of forcibly disappeared healthcare workers whose fates remain unknown – punished, it appears, for choosing to save lives under the Israeli bombardment.

“Ahmad has not left Al Awda Hospital since the start of the war,” his wife, Alaa Mhanna, 41, said. She told The National: “He stayed to provide medical care, even when warned the hospital would be bombed.”

In November, the Israeli military issued a direct threat to vacate Al Awda Hospital or face an air strike. Dr Mhanna continued his work in increasingly dire conditions, refusing to abandon his patients and staff. Soon afterwards, the hospital was besieged, food and water were cut off and 10 days later, Israeli forces stormed the facility.

His only ‘crime’ was refusing to abandon his hospital and continuing to practise medicine

Alaa Mhanna,
wife of Dr Ahmad Mhanna

On December 16, Dr Mhanna was ordered to leave the hospital. Soldiers forced him to remove his medical uniform and subjected him to a search. He was then taken to an interrogation centre in Jabalia, where he spent the night. The next day, he was told to return to the hospital to change his clothes, only to be informed that he and several colleagues were now under arrest. He has not been seen since.

According to testimonies from released detainees, Dr Mhanna was subjected to harsh interrogations and mistreatment. He was later transferred to Ketziot Prison in the Negev desert, where, according to multiple sources, he voluntarily provides medical care to fellow detainees who are reported to have suffered torture and abuse.

“There is still no formal charge against him,” said his wife. “It appears his only ‘crime’ was refusing to abandon his hospital and continuing to practise medicine.”

The father of three had been one of the few remaining doctors in northern Gaza after the Indonesian Hospital and Kamal Adwan Hospital were put out of operation. His decision to stay at the hospital despite direct threats from the Israeli military cost him his freedom.

“He was one of the first to reject evacuation orders,” said Alaa. “His office was bombed while he was in it. Several staff members were killed. Yet he stayed.”

A destroyed vehicle near Al Awda Hospital following an Israeli air strike on Al Nuseirat refugee camp, central Gaza, in December 2024. EPA

Dr Mhanna is not alone. Dr Hossam Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, was arrested by Israeli forces on December 27 after refusing repeated orders to leave.

His son, Idris, said: “My father was taken from the hospital gate. If he were really affiliated with Hamas, as the army claims, why was he spared during earlier raids?”

On March 26, an Israeli military court upheld Dr Abu Safiya’s detention order. Like Dr Mhanna, he remains in Israeli custody without charge. His family say he has been denied proper food, subjected to humiliation and abuse by prison guards, and cut off from legal representation.

“The international community must act immediately,” Idris told The National. “My father is a doctor. He was doing his job. His continued detention is unjustifiable under any legal or humanitarian standard.”

A banner showing Dr Hossam Abu Safiya is carried at a demonstration backing Palestinian medics in Gaza, in Tel Aviv, Israel, in April. EPA

Experts warn that the targeted detention of medical workers is part of a wider campaign against Gaza’s healthcare system.

“We have documented a significant number of arrests and forced disappearances among Gaza’s medical staff,” Ghazi Al Majdalawi, a researcher at the Palestinian Centre for the Missing and Forcibly Disappeared, told The National “The evidence indicates a deliberate strategy by the Israeli military to dismantle Gaza’s medical infrastructure.”

“Doctors are being tortured, humiliated, denied legal counsel and cut off from their families,” he added. “These acts constitute grave violations of international humanitarian law.”

The Israeli military stormed Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, forcing doctors and patients to head south on foot. Reuters

According to Mr Al Majdalawi, Israel is criminalising medical work itself. “We’ve seen cases where the only accusation against the detainee was that they were a doctor or nurse. Being part of the health system has become a reason for arrest.”

The enforced disappearance and mistreatment of Gaza’s medical workers comes as the territory's hospitals struggle under relentless bombardment, supply shortages and mass displacement. The absence of senior medics such as Dr Mhanna and Dr Abu Safiya has deeply undermined an already collapsing health system.

“Doctors and healthcare workers are protected under the Geneva Conventions and all international laws,” Mr Al Majdalawi said. “The targeting of medical staff during conflict is a war crime. The world must intervene now, before more doctors vanish for doing their duty.”