A prominent Palestinian doctor, Adnan Al-Bursh, who headed orthopedics at Gaza's Al Shifa Hospital, died in an Israeli prison after more than four months of detention, according to two Palestinian prisoner associations, as U.N. expresses alarm.
Al-Bursh had been detained by Israeli forces while working temporarily at Al-Awada Hospital in northern Gaza.
The associations condemned his death as an "assassination" and noted that his body remained in Israeli custody.
The Israeli prison service issued a statement on April 19, saying that a prisoner detained for national security reasons had died in Ofer prison but giving no detail on the cause of death.
A prison service spokesperson confirmed that the statement referred to Al-Bursh, and said the incident was being investigated.
Medical groups, including the World Health Organization (WHO), have repeatedly called for a halt to Israeli attacks on Gaza health care 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 analyzes data on attacks on aid workers around the world.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said in a statement that Al-Bursh’s death raised to 496 the number of medical sector workers who had been killed by Israel since Oct. 7.
It added that 1,500 others had been wounded, while 309 had been arrested.
Francesca Albanese, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in the West Bank and Gaza, said in comments on X that she was alarmed by Al-Bursh's death in Israeli detention and urged the diplomatic community to take concrete measures to protect Palestinians.
"How many more lives will have to be taken before UN Member States, especially those demonstrating genuine concern for human rights globally, act to protect the Palestinians?" she said.
Israel attempts to justify its killing of health care workers and its attacks on hospitals by accusing Hamas of using hospitals for military purposes.
Hamas and medical staff deny the allegations.
Earlier on Thursday, Israel released 64 Palestinians they had detained during their military offensive in Gaza via the Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom crossing, the Palestinian borders and crossings agency said.
Dozens of Palestinians who had been freed by Israel in past months, including some staff of a U.N. agency, have reported ill-treatment during detention, including torture and deprivation of food and sleep.
The two new deaths bring the toll of Gazans who died in Israeli custody to at least 18 since the start of the war, the prisoner associations said, urging Israeli authorities to disclose the number, location and fate of detainees from Gaza.
The U.N. Palestinian Refugee Agency has documented the release of 1,506 people detained by the Israeli authorities through the Kerem Shalom crossing as of April 4 and said the transfer of detainees regularly holds up aid.
The 1,506 included 43 children and 84 women, it said.
