‘LIKE A TORTURE PLACE’

IDF Soldiers Beat and Humiliated Medical Staff in Gaza: Report

During the week Dr. Abu Sabha spent in IDF custody, he said soldiers set their muzzled dogs on him and broke his hand.

Medics at Nasser Hospital in Gaza said they were subjected to severe humiliation and violence from Israeli soldiers after their February raid on the hospital, the BBC reports. Medical staff said they were stripped and blindfolded before being taken to the maternity ward, which Dr. Ahmed Abu Sabha told the BBC was “more like a torture place.” He said he was given a mock execution, which the IDF has denied. Naked medical staff were carted out of Gaza to a detainment facility, one medic said. “All along the way we were being hit and sworn at and humiliated. And they poured cold water on us,” they said. During the week Dr. Abu Sabha spent in IDF custody, he said soldiers beat him, set their muzzled dogs on him, and forced him to stand for hours as punishment. He said a soldier hit his hand until it was broken, and soldiers drew a Star of David on the cast an Israeli doctor put on him. The U.K. foreign minister is pushing for a full investigation.