Palestinian doctor died in Israeli prison

This week it became clear that the Palestinian orthopedist at the Shifa hospital in Gaza, Adnan Al-Bursh, has died in Israeli captivity. The Norwegian orthopedist Geir Stray Andreassen has worked closely with Adnan Al-Bursh.

– Adnan was a very pleasant, positive and always cheerful and pleasant person. And clever and active. He studied administration and management alongside his job, so he had ambitions to become something more at the Shifa hospital, Andreassen tells Dagbladet.

Now he hopes that the family will get Adnan Al-Bursh extradited from captivity.

– It is important for both the family and the rest of us to know what has happened, he says.

Alive or dead

Now Gaza’s main hospital, Shifa Hospital, is in ruins. And one of the hospital’s orthopedists, Adnan Al-Bursh, has now been declared dead after months in an Israeli prison.

– I know him very well, and spoke to him the day before he was arrested at the end of last year. He had just been injured then. The hospital where he worked was exposed to an attack, in which 12 were killed. Adnan suffered minor injuries after he was hit by a wall, says Andreassen.

Since Al-Bursh was arrested, no one has heard from him. Palestinians from Gaza who are arrested are subjected to torture in Israeli captivity, and at least 14 have died in captivity, according to a report by Israeli Physicians for Human Rights.

– What is very special is that it is the first time that the Israeli Army (IDF) confirms that a Palestinian prisoner from Gaza, Adnan Al-Bursh, died in captivity. We know of tens of prisoners who have been killed since the Gaza war started, but this is the first time that the military has confirmed this, says Naji Abbas, director of the prisoner department at Physicians for Human Rights in Israel, to Dagbladet.

Since the start of the war, at least 2,000 Palestinians have been taken out of Gaza, according to Physicians for Human Rights.

– There are probably more than 2,000 who have been arrested by the IDF. Everyone can be alive – or dead. People from Gaza call us all the time and ask to know one single thing: whether their son is alive or dead. But it is the first time we have found out about it now, with Adnan Al-Bursh, says Abbas.

He wonders why exactly Al-Bursh’s death was made public, but says he himself “doesn’t know what the reason is”.

– They have so far refused to release any information. Neither about how many people have been arrested, where they are – or whether they are alive or dead, he says.

– So cruel

“Since October 7, systematic violations of human rights have been committed by Israel: Arrests, torture and serious violations of human rights against Palestinians in custody have been systematic,” writes Physicians for Human Rights in another report.

– I have been to Gaza 19 times since 2010, but nothing can be compared to my last two stays, during the ongoing war, says Andreassen and adds:

– It is difficult to understand how the population of Gaza will get over this. It is so cruel what has happened and is happening, he says.

Al-Bursh headed the orthopedic department at Shifa Hospital. He was arrested along with ten health workers in December, during an Israeli raid in the Jabaliya refugee camp, according to CNN. Al-Bursh was treating patients when he was arrested.

He has now been declared dead, but the body has not been handed over. Several Palestinian prisoner organizations accuse Israel of having a “targeted action against health workers in Gaza”, writes CNN.

– The news of his death is heartbreaking for everyone. Both for the family, for the medical staff at the Shifa hospital and Adnan’s patients, says Marwan Abu Saada, director of the now bombed-out hospital, to CNN.

– Adnan had a family and many children and had built a new house. We also had another thing in common: I was a doctor for the Norwegian U21 men’s national football team – and he was a doctor for the Palestinian men’s national team. So we were both interested in sports medicine, of all things, says Andreassen.

Adaptable people

Andreassen has had two periods of work at a hospital in Gaza since 7 October. First two weeks at the European Hospital in Khan Younis and then two weeks in the north at Al Awda Hospital recently.

– In northern Gaza recently, the situation was even worse than in the south. Everything is completely bombed out. I don’t think we saw an unscathed house. In addition, the food shortage is much greater than in the south. And drinking water is bad – and water in general, says Andreassen.

What made the most impression on the experienced doctor was how bombed out Gaza, and especially the northern part, is.

– A couple of hundred thousand people live there. Maybe they have three walls in the house and the fourth wall is a tent wall. They often lack both doors and windows, but people still say it’s better than living in a tent, he says.

Due to security reasons, Andreassen and the Norwegian health personnel are mostly inside the hospitals, where they both live and work. But sometimes they get out.

– How they can live under those conditions is difficult to understand. But they are adaptable people, he says.

Gaza: The smiles that disappeared

– Never afraid

One would think that a month in Gaza does something to the psyche. But Andreassen and the other health workers feel extremely well looked after by WHO, the World Health Organisation.

– There is sometimes a bit of noise around the hospital, but I have never been afraid. It’s probably because the civilian population is so calm. When a bomb goes off, the children continue to play. They jump to paradise as if nothing has happened, says Andreassen.

He also describes conversations with people, where they hear bombs and shooting nearby.

– People continue to talk as if nothing has happened. It makes us calmer. At the same time, it is absolutely wild that the children do not react when there are bombs. But that’s how it has become in Gaza, says Andreassen.

Sometime after the summer holidays, he has decided to return to work for Norwac in Gaza.

– We have had four teams inside Gaza, and there is only one person who does not want to go down again. It shows how meaningful this job is – even in the middle of a war zone, says Andreassen.

Norwac wants to staff Gaza hospitals continuously. Out 2024, initially.