Tasneem Al-Hams Was Working In The So-Called ‘Safe Zone’ Of Al-Mawasi At A Medical Facility In Khan Younis, In Southern Gaza,When Israeli Forces Captured.
Israeli forces captured her while the driver of their ambulance was wounded in front of a Red Cross field hospital.
The Palestinian nurse faces the same fate as her father, who is the director of Abu Youssef al-Najjar Hospital and spokesperson for the Palestinian health ministry in Gaza.
On July 21st, Marwan al-Hams, who also oversees field hospitals in the Gaza Strip, was on his way to visit the Red Cross facility in northern Rafah when undercover Israeli soldiers opened fire, killing one person and wounding another civilian, before abducting him.
The person killed was a local journalist who had been conducting an interview with the well-known doctor at the time of the attack.
The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza condemned Tasneem’s abduction.
“We consider this attack a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law and the protection of health workers,” it said.
“We hold the occupation fully responsible for her safety and demand that it reveal her fate. We also call on the international community to intervene urgently to stop these violations and protect health sector workers and their families.”
Several rights groups and medical organizations condemned the targeting and detention of Marwan al-Hams.
Al-Dameer Association for Human Rights in Gaza revealed that he is being held in Ashkelon prison. According to Alaa al-Skafi, the director of the organisation, the doctor was imprisoned after he was shot in the foot during his arrest.
Marwan al-Hams, like many Palestinian medical personnel captured by Israel, is denied legal representation, which Skafi says is a clear violation of legal and human rights.
The Israeli military has been accused of systematically dismantling Gaza’s healthcare system through repeated strikes on hospitals, medical personnel and ambulances during its 20-month-long assault on the strip.
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, over 1,500 health workers have been killed and more than 360 detained since the war began.
In Israeli detention, Palestinians have reported widespread and severe mistreatment since October 7th 2023, abuses that leading rights groups describe as systematic crimes.
Reports detail starvation, medical neglect, physical violence, humiliation, sexual assault, theft and unprecedented levels of mass solitary confinement
Healthcare professionals have been especially targeted in these prison systems, with one report by Physicians for Human Rights Israel describing their treatment as “human rights violations”.
Hidden History -- In The Making 