AL-SHIFA DOCTOR HELD HOSTAGE DETAILS HORRIFIC TORTURE IN ISRAELI PRISONS

After over 7 torturous months in Israel's "military prisons", the director of al-Shifa Hospital Dr. Muhammad Abu Salmiya was released. During the raid November raid before Dr. Muhammad Abu Salmiya was captured, he advised they had to bury the bodies of at least 179 people in mass graves, 7 of which were babies. He has endured unspeakable torture at the hands of Israeli forces. Both his arms were broken, he was starved, and routinely humiliated by being forced to crawl on the ground and act like an animal for the sick amusement of Israeli guards. Dr. Muhammad Abu Salmiya's testimony on his experience is heartbreaking. Palestinian hostages are tortured night and day with no reprieve. Many have been murdered in interrogation centers where they were beaten and deprived of food and medicine. The abuse wasn't just at the hands of the guards. He corroborated the reports from Israeli whistleblowers advising that Israeli medical staff amputated limbs in lieu of providing medical care to ensure the severe damage and infection caused by the tight restraints would not progress that severely. The doctor advised that food rations were a loaf of bread every 2 days. All Palestinian hostages abducted around the same time have lost at least 60lbs. The group of hostages released that included Dr. Muhammad Abu Salmiya were taken to the Nasser Hospital and Al-Aqsa Hospital for medical care. Photos of several men showing the extent of the weight loss and emaciation is heartbreaking. Dr. Muhammad Abu Salmiya went on to advise that while in captivity, Israel refused visitation from any international organization, lawyers, or their families. The international outcry from Dr. Muhammad Abu Salmiya's detention has been unceasing, and it will only grow as more is revealed about the torture Palestinian hostages face from his testimony. American nurse Jessica Smith-Amara's words in The Lancet regarding Dr. Muhammad Abu Salmiya's detention speak to all Palestinian healthcare workers who've been taken. "Do we live in a time where the most credible members of society, physicians and physician executives, are arrested and detained without international outrage? Where clinicians working in war zones and sharing updates with the world are detained without the medical community applying pressure to those in power?" I demand that you:  – Hold Israel accountable for a permanent, immediate ceasefire, their violations of the Genocide Convention, and gross human rights violations by any means necessary – Call for the immediate end of Israel’s occupation and apartheid and support Palestinians in their fight for freedom and peace – Secure the immediate release and safety of all Palestinians who have been abducted and held captive by Israel, including those whose indefinite detention began prior to 10/7