In interviews with the Guardian and the Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism (ARIJ), eight of Gaza’s most senior doctors have given harrowing testimonies of the torture, beatings, starvation and humiliation they say they suffered during months of detention.

All of those interviewed say they were targeted because they were doctors. Most were arrested inside hospitals as they worked; others were taken from ambulances or detained at checkpoints after being identified as healthcare workers. All those doctors interviewed were detained under Israel’s Unlawful Combatants Law, which grants the Israeli military sweeping powers to detain anyone from Gaza they say might pose a security threat.

"They stripped me naked, put a blindfold over my eyes and handcuffed my feet. The beatings started from this first moment"
Dr Mohammed Abu Selmia

Some, including Abu Ajwa, believe they were singled out for extreme violence by prison guards and interrogators because they were doctors.

“One of the senior interrogators had given instructions that because I was a senior consultant surgeon they should work hard to make sure that I lost [the use of my hands] and became unable to perform surgery,” he says.

Read the full story on The Guardian

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