Senior Gaza doctor who spoke to the Canary has now been abducted by Israel

A senior doctor who the Canary only interviewed last month has been abducted by Israel – in a raid in Gaza that also killed a journalist.

Israel: abducting doctors from Gaza and killing journalists

Dr. Marwan Al-Hams, Director of Field Hospitals in the Gaza Strip, head of Abu Yousef Al-Najjar Hospital in Rafah and the Gaza Ministry of Health spokesperson spoke with the Canary about civilians being massacred at aid sites. Now, he has been abducted by a covert Israeli undercover unit yesterday, in a deadly raid near a Red Cross field hospital in southern Rafah. 

“This cowardly act targeted one of the most prominent humanitarian and medical voices who has conveyed to the world the pain of starving children, the suffering of wounded patients deprived of medication, and the cries of mothers at hospital gates,” the Ministry said in a statement.

The unit opened fire on a group of civilians during the operation, killing local journalist, Tamer Al-Za’anin, who was documenting an interview with Al-Hams, and injuring journalist Ibrahim Abu Osheiba, as well as an ambulance driver, before capturing Al-Hams. At the time, he was visiting the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) field hospital, performing routine humanitarian and medical duties. 

This abduction was condemned by the Gaza Health Ministry as a “grave violation” of international humanitarian law and a direct attack on humanitarian workers.

The Ministry described Al-Hams as a vital medical voice exposing the suffering of Gaza’s civilians amidst severe conflict and called for his immediate and unconditional release. In a statement it calls the abduction “a deliberate attempt to silence the truth, and obscure the suffering of an entire population enduring the most horrific health and humanitarian catastrophe”. 

War crime after war crime

This incident has intensified concerns about the targeting of medical personnel and journalists in Gaza amid ongoing hostilities, as efforts occur to silence those reporting on Gaza’s humanitarian crisis.

Since 7 October 2023, Israel has killed over 1,400 medical professionals – which amount to war crimes. Similarly, it has killed over 230 journalists. As Al Jazeera noted, this is more than “in both world wars, Vietnam, Yugoslavia and Afghanistan combined”.

Featured image via the Canary