Healthcare Workers Watch - Palestine

04/02/2026

Healthcare Workers Watch (HWW): An msf female pharmacist was shot today while on duty at the NGO's clinic in Al-Mawasi, north of Rafah. The source of the bullet is not certain.

04/02/2026

Israeli Occupation Forces killed the paramedic at the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS), Hussien Hassan Al-Smairi (48-year-old), in a double-tap strike targeted him while on a rescue mission for the wounded from the Israeli attack on the tents of displacement in Al-Mawasi, east of Khan Younis City.
Paramedic Hussien marks the fourth healthcare worker killed in Gaza since the October 2025 ceasfire, and the second in less than 24 hours.

03/02/2026

Healthcare Workers Watch (HWW): Israeli Occupation Forces killed today the pharmacist at the Palestinian Medical Relief Society, Entesar Nezar Shamallakh, as Israeli soldiers opened fire indiscriminately on residential buildings in the Al-Tuffah neighbourhood east of Gaza City.
Pharmacist Entesar, the wife of chief of pulmonology at Al-Shifa Hospital and the mother of 11-year-old Salma, marks the third healthcare worker killed in Gaza since the October 2025 ceasfire.

27/11/2025

Nurse Tasneem Al-Hams is now free!
At least 95 Palestinian healthcare workers are still illegally detained in Israeli prisons without charge or legal representation.

09/11/2025

24/10/2025

Yesterday, Israeli Occupation Forces killed the medical laboratory specialist, Bakr Fathi Al-Reqb, in a quadcopter attack near his home at Bani Suheila, east of Khan Younis City.
Bakr's father (a renowned consultant of paediatrics snd neonatology) and brother (a specialist of obstetrics and gyanecology) were similarly killed near their home by 2 seperate drone attacks back in August 2025 and March 2024.

21/10/2025

Released Gaza doctor describes torture and medical neglect in detention as Israel continues to incarcerate at least ninety-five Palestinian healthcare workers

Dr Ahmed Muhanna, the director of Al-Awda Hospital in Gaza, told Healthcare Workers Watch (HWW) that ‘doctors have been singled out as targets for detention’ and are treated with particular brutality while detained. In a video testimony, Dr Muhanna described how several of the Palestinian detainees died ‘as the […] Israeli jailers looked on’. He added that the detained healthcare workers were prevented from helping other detainees, even those injured during violent interrogations. Dr Muhanna’s own health suffered from the protracted starvation and unsanitary conditions, and he lost almost a third of his body weight while in detention.

As of today, HWW has been able to verify that 95 Palestinian healthcare workers are still being held in Israeli detention. This includes Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya – whose lawyers announced a six-month extension to his incarceration last week – and 79 other healthcare workers from Gaza. A further 5 healthcare workers have died or been killed while in detention, and 5 more are missing, their whereabouts unknown.

The detained Gazan healthcare workers include 31 nurses, 17 doctors and 14 paramedics. In a pattern consistent across the hundreds of healthcare worker detentions verified by HWW, most of the Gazan healthcare workers currently in detention were abducted by the Israeli military from their hospitals or ambulances while they were working. Testimonies collected by HWW and other organisations catalogue the torture and abuse that Palestinians endure in Israeli detention.

Today HWW organised a joint event with Amnesty International UK to call for the immediate release of all the detained healthcare workers in Israeli detention.

Dr Rebecca Inglis, of HWW, says: ‘Israel’s continued detention of nearly one hundred healthcare workers is in clear contravention of International Humanitarian Law. We are gravely concerned for their welfare given the extensive evidence that Palestinian detainees are being tortured while in Israeli detention.’


Pictures by: Raphael Nael

13/10/2025

Fifty-five healthcare workers from Gaza are listed for release from Israeli detention today, while Israel continues to hold at least 115 more captives

Fifty-five healthcare workers from Gaza are listed among the Palestinians released from Israeli detention today as part of the exchange deal. While not all releases are confirmed yet, the list includes 24 nurses, 7 doctors, and 2 paramedics. Fourty-four of the healthcare workers listed were abducted by the Israeli Occupation Forces from the hospitals where they were working and they have spent between nine and 22 months illegally imprisoned in Israeli detention and torture facilities. Dr Ahmed Mhanna, the Director of Al-Awda Hospital, was not on the list but has also been released today.
While their release is warmly welcomed, there are at least 115 more Gazan healthcare workers who are still being held in Israeli detention. These include at least 20 doctors, of whom 15 are irreplaceable senior specialists. In the past two years, the Israeli Occupation Forces have unlawfully detained over 409 Palestinian healthcare workers from both Gaza and the West Bank. Testimonies from released healthcare workers and other Palestinians describe the horrific conditions inside the detention facilities where brutality and torture are rife . Five healthcare workers have been killed while in detention.
Dr. Muath Alser, the director and co-founder of Healthcare Workers Watch says:
‘Israel’s systematic abduction of healthcare workers is a war crime which has decimated the hospital workforce in Gaza. Unlawfully holding highly trained medical professionals in detention has directly deprived Palestinians of medical care and terrorised the hospital staff left behind. Israel must immediately and unconditionally release all the detained healthcare workers including the bodies of those tortured to death in detention.’

02/10/2025

An Israeli drone attacked a number of MSF France healthcare workers on Abu Araif Street in Dier Al-Balah City while they were waiting for a shuttle, physiotherapist Omar Al-Hayek was killed and a number of healthcare workers were injured.

02/10/2025

An Israeli special force kidnapped nurse Tasneem Al-Hams from a medical point near Al-Aqsa University in Al-Mawasi, west of Khan Younis City.
Nurse Tasneem's father, the Director of Abu Yousef Al-Najjar Hospital (destroyed), and the director of field hospitals in Gaza Ministry of Health, Dr Marwan Al-Hams, was kidnapped similarly on July 21, 2025 from a cafeteria opposite to ICRC Field Hospital in Rafah and has been in Israeli detention since then.

17/07/2025

Since October 7, 2023, Israeli Occupation Forces have unlawfully detained at least 404 Palestinian healthcare workers, who were exposed to systematic torture and inhumane treatment.
As of today, Israeli Occupation Forces arbitrarily detain 28 prominent Gazan physicians, 18 of them are irreplaceable consultants and specialists in essential specialities like General Surgery, Vascular Surgery, Orthopaedics Surgery, Anaesthesiology, Intensive Care, Cardiology, Paediatrics, and Obstetrics and Gynaecology; depriving the deliberately targeted healthcare system in Gaza of their vital expertise.
Two of the detained senior physicians were reportedly tortured to death in Israeli prisons, while their bodies are still in Israeli detention in an attempt to obliterate the conclusive evidence of a heinous war crime.
Eleven of the currently detained physicians are over 50 years of age with chronic illnesses, which puts their lives at risk due to medical neglect, torture and the inhumane conditions of their detention.
Twenty-one of the currently detained physicians were detained from their hospitals after being besieged for days and invaded by the Israeli military. Three were detained from organised medical convoys to transfer patients through the Israel-designated "safe routes". While 2 were detained from their homes, and the remaining 2 were detained while they were evacuating their homes as per the Israeli orders.
Twenty-one of the currently detained physicians have been detained for more than 400 days without due legal process; three of them have been detained for over 600 days.
Healthcare workers are protected under International Humanitarian Law. Arbitrary detention is a war crime under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Torture is a war crime under the Geneva Conventions. Israel must immediately and unconditionally release all the detained healthcare workers.
Healthcare Workers Watch
Palestine
July 16, 2025

13/07/2025

Israeli Occupation Forces killed the most experienced Consultant of General Surgery in Gaza Strip, Dr Ahmed Atallah Hamed Qandil, in a drone attack that targeted him on his way home from Al-Ahli Arab Hospital at Al-Samer Roundabout in Gaza City.