Prominent Gaza doctor Adnan Al-Bursh dies in Israeli prison
- The head of orthopaedics at al-Shifa Hospital was detained while temporarily working in north Gaza and held for over 4 months
- Palestinian prisoner associations called his death an ‘assassination’ and said his body remained in Israeli custody
A senior Palestinian doctor died in an Israeli prison after more than four months of detention, two Palestinian prisoner associations said on Thursday, blaming Israel for his death.
The associations said in a joint statement that Adnan Al-Bursh, head of orthopaedics at al-Shifa hospital, Gaza’s largest medical facility, had been detained by Israeli forces while temporarily working at al-Awada hospital in north Gaza.
They called his death an “assassination” and said his body remained in Israeli custody.
An Israeli military spokesperson said that the prison service had declared Bursh dead on April 19, saying that he had been detained for national security reasons in Ofer prison. The spokesperson did not comment on the cause of death.
Medical groups, including the World Health Organization, have repeatedly called for a halt to attacks on Gaza healthcare workers, with more than 200 killed so far in the Gaza conflict, according to an estimate from Insecurity Insight, a research group that collects and analyses data on attacks on aid workers around the world.
The Palestinian health ministry said in a statement that Bursh’s death raised to 496 the number of medical sector workers who had been killed by Israel since October 7. It added that 1,500 others had been wounded while 309 had been arrested.