CNN —
Israeli forces detained Palestinian journalists and medical workers at al-Shifa hospital in northern Gaza, blindfolded them and stripped them of their underwear, according to eyewitness accounts shared with CNN.
Palestinian journalists and hospital workers have described scenes of humiliating interrogations in which colleagues were left undressed and left outside in the cold after Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) surrounded the enclave's largest hospital early on Monday. . One of the detained men told CNN that Israeli forces released him without identification or a cell phone.
Israeli forces raided al-Shifa after claiming that “senior Hamas terrorists” were using the facility to “carry out and promote terrorist activities.” It claims to have captured a senior Hamas operative during the operation.
CNN cannot independently verify the IDF's statement.
Al Jazeera journalist Ismail Al Ghoul told CNN that he and his team were held captive for 12 hours, stripped to their underwear and blindfolded, despite the rain and cold. Another member of the team, Ahmad Alharazin, said: [there], [Israeli] The army suddenly raided us and arrested us. Almighty God has protected us. And we were released. ”
Samer Taraji, who was also part of al-Shifa's al-Ghoul team, told CNN that he had just finished work at 2 a.m. local time on Monday when Israeli forces stormed the facility and detained him.
“We were blindfolded and handcuffed while waiting to be released. We waited without knowing where we were or where we were being taken,” he said. Told. After his capture, the IDF instructed Taraji and his colleagues to flee south along al-Rashid Street along the coast. “We were released without getting our identity documents or mobile phones back,” he added.
Al Jazeera claimed in a statement on Monday that Al Ghoul and his team were detained and “severely assaulted” before being taken to an undisclosed location and interrogated. The IDF told CNN it has no record of detaining al-Ghoul or his colleagues.
Dawood Abu Arkas/Reuters
Smoke rises during an Israeli military raid on Al Shifa Hospital and surrounding areas in Gaza City, March 20, 2024.
CNN also received a report from Dr. Marwan Abu Saada, head of surgery at Al Shifa. Abu Saada was not at the hospital when the Israeli attack began on Monday. He said on Tuesday that his colleagues who were allowed to leave the hospital reported that Israeli forces had entered most of the hospital building.
He said male medical staff were forced to undress and left “in the cold for hours”, a claim echoed by other men released from the area. “They scanned our faces with cameras and filmed us one by one for a humiliating investigation,” he said in an account shared by his colleagues with CNN.
“Many people were arrested and taken to unknown locations, and some were forced to leave the hospital, forced to move half-naked to the south, and ordered to return to the hospital,” Abu Saada added. .
“Soldiers assaulted and assaulted medical staff and personnel at Al Shifa Hospital and left them without food or water for two days, considering they were fasting during the month of Ramadan.”
CNN has asked the IDF to respond to Saada's allegations. The IDF has so far not responded.
The Israel Defense Forces said in a statement on Wednesday that its forces, along with forces from the Israel Security Agency, “killed approximately 90 terrorists in the area.” It added that the military had interrogated “more than 300 suspects” and taken at least 160 others to Israeli territory “for further interrogation.” CNN cannot independently verify IDF's claims.
Dawood Abo Arkas/Anadolu/Getty Images
On March 18, Palestinian residents are evacuated near Al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza after Israeli forces storm the Gaza Strip's largest medical complex.
Israel launched a military offensive in the Gaza Strip after the militant group Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, killing at least 1,200 people, including 36 children, and kidnapping more than 250 people.
At least 31,923 Palestinians have been killed and another 74,096 injured in Israeli attacks on Gaza, according to the enclave's health ministry.
Israel turned al-Shifa hospital into a battlefield in November in what it called a “precise and targeted” attack. Doctors were forced to work by candlelight and wrap premature babies in foil to keep them alive. A report released in November found that dozens of patients had died due to power shortages.
Medical workers have previously said they are unable to provide life-saving treatment to Palestinians injured in the war, including children and infants, because Israeli shelling and siege of hospitals in Gaza has overwhelmed the medical system. told CNN. The IDF claims Hamas is using the hospital for military operations. Hamas denies using the hospital as a front. CNN cannot independently verify either claim.
Hospitals are civilian objects protected under international humanitarian law. Attacking health facilities or interfering with the provision of health care is illegal, with some exceptions. Hospitals can only lose their protected status if they are used by armed groups for actions deemed “harmful to the enemy.”
However, patients and internal physicians are still protected by the principle of proportionality. Before carrying out an attack, you must give warning and allow time for safe evacuation.
Allegations of interrogation, killing, and torture
Footage showed the area around Al Shifa filled with piles of rubble and plumes of smoke as families fled in terror after a deafening missile attack near a hospital earlier this week. It was published. Unaccompanied children scrambled over fallen concrete slabs, desperately trying to escape the horror.
According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, at least 3,000 displaced persons, patients and staff had sought refuge inside the facility's walls before the deadly attack. The ministry said on Monday that those trying to flee were targeted by fire from Israeli military snipers and helicopters.
Mahmoud Bassal, Gaza's civil defense spokesman, told CNN on Wednesday: “The situation around Al-Shifa hospital is very difficult, and the situation of the residents inside the hospital is also very difficult. People have no water to drink. It's been two days since we ran out of daily necessities.”
Basal claimed that residents inside the hospital spoke of interrogations, killings and torture. He said the Israeli army was transporting the wounded from the hospital “even though they were unable to walk or move,” and that they arrived at Baptist Hospital, 3 kilometers away, “in very difficult conditions.” He added that he is doing so.
“Our civil defense forces are unable to reach the vicinity of Al Shifa Hospital due to the difficult situation there,” Bassal said.
Momen Faiz/Nurfoto/Getty Images
On October 15, Palestinian journalists reported on Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip is the deadliest war for journalists since 1992, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
He said local people were afraid to speak to journalists and claimed that one local freelance reporter, Mahmoud Aliwa, had been detained by Israeli forces. CNN asked the IDF about the reported detention of Aliwa and the transfer of the injured to Al-Ahly Baptist Hospital.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Israel's military action in Gaza is the deadliest war for journalists since 1992. As of March 20, at least 95 journalists were reported killed, 16 injured, four missing, and 25 arrested, according to CPJ statistics. Numerous incidents of assault, intimidation, cyberattacks, censorship, and family killings have been reported.
The IDF ordered residents and displaced persons near the vast medical complex to move further south to what it called a “humanitarian zone.” But one witness said those warnings were issued after the hospital was already under siege. CNN has asked the Israel Defense Forces for more information about the people it says were killed or captured in attacks on al-Shifa and nearby areas.
CNN has previously reported that Palestinian civilians who followed evacuation orders were killed in Israeli attacks, and evacuation zones and Israeli military warnings do not guarantee the safety of civilians in the densely populated Gaza Strip. emphasized.
