Paramedic tells of ‘two weeks of torture’ after checkpoint arrest
On December 2, Palestinian paramedic Abdul Karim Abu Ghali was in an ambulance with three colleagues on a mission to evacuate patients from Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza.
Although he had received a permit from the Israeli military to travel north from Khan Younis, passing through Gaza city, he was arrested and detained for 17 days.
After his release, the paramedic told The National the harrowing details of his captivity.
“When we reached a military checkpoint south of Gaza city, the soldiers kept us waiting,” Mr Abu Ghali said.
Waiting at checkpoints was a familiar procedure to him, as he had made the same trip six times before, taking wounded Palestinians from the north to the south.
“But that time, they asked us to get out of the vehicle. This was unusual,” he said. “That moment was the start of over two weeks of torture and humiliation.”
Mr Abu Ghali recounted being forced to strip down to his underwear.
“The physical assault was severe,” he said. “We were slapped, kicked and prodded with rifle butts during interrogation at the checkpoint.”
Throughout the six-hour journey to Israel, Mr Abu Ghali and his three colleagues were kept blindfolded and almost naked.
“During the interrogation, a uniformed Israeli soldier stepped on my head with his military boots, pressing it with a vengeance against hard, sharp rocks. For a moment, I thought I had gone blind,” he said.
After 17 days of detention, the soldiers replaced the metal handcuffs with plastic zip cuffs and put Mr Abu Ghali on a bus along with dozens of other detainees. They were released later at the Kerem Shalom border crossing.
Soldiers took off the captives’ blindfolds and instructed them to walk straight without turning around.
“They wanted to break us, but those 17 days of detention only increased my resolve and conviction that saving lives is my mission,” said Mr Abu Ghali, who resumed his duties as a paramedic in Khan Younis just two days after his release.
The Israeli military has not commented on the paramedic’s arrest.
Earlier this month, Palestinian rights groups said Israeli troops had arrested hundreds, possibly thousands, of men and children in Gaza, as they hunt down suspected members of Hamas, the militant group that governs the territory.
The detentions gained attention after images were circulated on social media showing soldiers rounding up blindfolded men in their underwear on the streets of Gaza.
A December 13 situation report by the UN’s humanitarian aid agency Ocha said at least 300 Palestinian health workers, including paramedics like Mr Abu Ghali, have been killed in this war.
British-based charity Medical Aid for Palestinians says this exceeds the total number of health workers killed in global conflicts in any single year since 2016.
Less than a week after Mr Abu Ghali’s arrest, a UN expert condemned the “unrelenting war” on Gaza’s health system.
“The practice of medicine is under attack,” said Tlaleng Mofokeng, UN special rapporteur on the right to health.
“I cannot fathom what my Gazan colleagues are enduring. They are working while their colleagues and loved ones are under attack.”
Rights groups say Israeli troops have arrested hundreds or thousands of Gazans as they hunt for Hamas members