Palestinian surgeon tortured to death in Israeli jail - UK media probe

Adnan al Bursh, a renowned orthopaedic surgeon from Gaza, was tortured multiple times in an Israeli prison, an abuse that eventually led to his death, a Sky News investigation has revealed.

Bursh was detained on December 19, 2023, and taken to the notorious Sde Teiman detention facility. Four months later, he was transferred to Ofer Prison in the occupied West Bank.

According to testimony collected by the Israeli human rights organisation HaMoked, Bursh arrived in Ofer Prison in a severely battered condition, naked from the waist down, and unable to stand.

“He was thrown into the yard and left there, completely helpless,” the witness stated.

As a fellow prisoner assisted him to the jail cell, the witness heard screams from the room. Bursh had succumbed to his injuries.

Bursh was often photographed in blood-soaked surgical gowns as he treated dozens of injured victims of Israel’s brutal bombings at Al Awda hospital in northern Gaza.

An image of him resting on a hospital veranda during the war left a strong impression on social media -- turning into a symbol of the unwavering commitment by Palestinian medical professionals while surviving intense Israeli bombings.

Bursh’s colleague, Dr. Mohammad Obeid, told Sky News that Israeli forces had warned the hospital staff to surrender all male individuals aged 14 to 65 or face dire consequences – the complete destruction of the hospital with women and children inside.

In November 2023, Bursh had faced a similar situation when the Israeli army compelled the doctors and nurses, asking them to leave Al Shifa Hospital and move down to southern Gaza.

Bursh, however, did not go to the south. Instead, he went to the north, where Israeli forces unleashed barbarity on anything that moved. Bursh started working at the Indonesian Hospital and then moved to Al Awada.

He also recorded attacks on another hospital in Bait Lahia, where indiscriminate Israeli fire killed 12 patients and staff, and shared the disturbing visuals on social media.

Sde Teiman, a dark pit

Before his transfer to Ofer Prison, Bursh was tortured and most likely sexually assaulted at the notorious Sde Teiman Prison in southern Israel.

Many reputed Israeli lawyers have described the prison as worse than Abu Ghraib or Guantanamo. Sde Teiman’s ugly reality came to the fore earlier this year when reports of mass rapes of prisoners surfaced.

Instead of punishing the culprits, several Israeli lawmakers stormed the prison facility to shield the soldiers accused of raping the Palestinian inmates. One of the rapists even appeared on a popular Israeli TV channel, justifying rape as a tool of coercion against whoever the Israeli state views as an enemy.

According to former detainee Dr. Khalid Hamouda at Sde Teiman, Bursh was beaten for days – to the point that his ribs were broken and could no longer walk unaided.

The systemic abuse in Israeli prisons and detention centres has surfaced in regional and international media on several occasions.

Strong evidence, such as video recordings of gang rape of Palestinian detainees and testimonies of released inmates revealing that Israeli soldiers are using dogs for sexual assault of detainees, have led to widespread condemnation.

Yet, the Israeli state turns a blind eye to such crimes.