Israel army arrests 35 medical workers in Gaza

The Israeli occupation army arrested 35 medical workers in hospitals in the Gaza Strip, including doctors and ambulance drivers, during the ground invasion, for allegedly cooperating with Hamas.

Israel’s Kan 11 radio station reported that the Israeli army, in cooperation with the Shin Bet, arrested medical personnel during the ground invasion by raiding hospitals and medical complexes in the Gaza Strip.

The radio station pointed out that during the ground invasions into the Gaza Strip, the occupation army stormed Al-Shifa, the Indonesian and Al-Rantisi hospitals in Gaza City, and Muhammad Youssef Al-Najjar Hospital in Rafah, claiming that they provide assistance to Palestinian resistance factions and cooperate with Hamas.

Those arrested include the Director of Al-Shifa Hospital, Dr Muhammad Abu Salmiya, whose detention was extended last week by an Israeli court by 45 days for allegedly “aiding the enemy during wartime and providing assistance to a terrorist organisation,” according to the occupation army.

READ: Doctor says Israeli forces ‘found nothing’, supplies low at Gaza’s Al Shifa Hospital

The hospital director was arrested, according to the occupation’s accusations, “after extensive evidence emerged indicating that the hospital, under its direct management, served as the main headquarters of the Hamas movement, which used many resources, including electricity, to maintain the tunnel systems built under the hospital. In addition to this, Hamas stored many weapons inside and around the hospital,” according to Israeli allegations that were refuted by Hamas and the Shifa Complex administration.

To justify the continued Israeli bombing and targeting of hospitals and medical centres in the Gaza Strip and the arrests and prosecutions of medical workers, the Shin Bet published new details last week, which it said it obtained “from questioning fighters affiliated with Hamas, who infiltrated Israeli territory on ‘Black Saturday,’ kidnapped two Thai citizens and transported them to Al-Shifa Hospital.”