UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese alleged that Palestinian doctor Adnan Al-Bursh was sexually abused until his death while in Israeli detention, according to a post to her X/Twitter account on Monday.
Albanese wrote, "A doctor. A stellar surgeon. The embodiment of Palestinian ethics. Likely raped to death."
"The racism of Western media who are not covering this, and Western politicians who are not denouncing this, together with the thousand other testimonies and allegations of rape and other forms of mistreatment and torture that Palestinians have suffered in Israeli jails, is absolutely sickening," Albanese said.
Likely raped to death.A doctor. A stellar surgeon. The embodiment of Palestinian ethics.Likely raped to death. The racism of Western media who are not covering this, and Western politicians who are not denouncing this, together with the thousand other testimonies and… pic.twitter.com/IRpCSi9nVZ
— Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt (@FranceskAlbs) November 18, 2024
Senior Palestinian doctor Adnan Al-Bursh died in an Israeli prison after over four months of detention at both the Sde Teiman facility and Ofer Prison, Reuters reported in May.
Reuters stated that Al-Bursh, head of orthopedics at Al-Shifa Hospital, was detained by the IDF while temporarily working at Al-Awada Hospital in northern Gaza.
The IDF began operations in the Al-Shifa Hospital in mid-November 2023 after the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas War, with Israel stating that there was a Hamas command center beneath the hospital.
Following the beginning of the operations, Al-Bursh fled Al-Shifa to the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza, Sky News reported. The IDF began operating at the Indonesian Hospital, leading Al-Bursh to move to the Al-Awda Hospital, a smaller hospital also located in northern Gaza.
The military soon began operations at Al-Awda, and the IDF told medical staff and patients to evacuate due to the operations, and where Al-Bursh was detained.
Al-Bursch detained at Sde Teiman, Ofer Prison
The IDF reportedly confirmed to Sky News that Al-Bursh was detained by the military and was taken to the Israeli military base Sde Teiman.
Sky News cited other Palestinian prisoners on the abuse at Sde Teiman. In April, Al-Bursh was moved to Ofer Prison under the Israel Prison Services.
The Sky News report cited people who claimed to have witnessed the moments prior to Al-Bursh's death, who said that "He [Al-Bursh] had clearly been assaulted with injuries around his body. He was naked in the lower part of his body."
Al-Bursh was then left in the yard and was helped to the rooms by other prisoners, and died shortly after.
The Israel Prison Services (IPS) told Sky News that they were not aware of the claims.