Palestinian prisoner networks have reported the death of a Palestinian physician who had spent more than four months in Israeli custody.
Dr. Adnan Al-Bursh, a fifty-year-old, led the orthopedics department at Al-Shifa Hospital.
In a statement issued on April 19th, the Israeli prison service acknowledged that the individual in question was Dr. Al-Bursh, who had been jailed for reasons related to national security and had passed away while being held at Ofer prison.
The jail service said that an investigation was being conducted into the occurrence, however they did not provide any information on the cause of death.
However, Palestinian prisoner advocacy groups claimed in a joint statement on Thursday that Dr. Al-Bursh's death was an "assassination" and that the Israeli government was still holding his corpse.
Israeli military forces have frequently raided al-Shifa hospital, Gaza's primary medical facility, where Dr. Al-Bursh served as the chief of orthopedics.
He was working temporarily at the Al-Awada hospital in the northern part of Gaza when Israeli troops took him into custody.
Israeli bombardment left Gaza hospital in ruins after two weeks.
Israeli soldiers storm the al-Shifa hospital in Gaza.
His colleagues described the deceased surgeon as "compassionate" and "heroic" in their tributes.
Dr. Marwan Abu Saada, the director of Al-Shifa, stated in a statement that the news of his passing was difficult for the human spirit to accept.
Another colleague, Dr. Suhail Matar, referred to Dr. Al-Bursh as "the safety valve" for every orthopedic department in each and every hospital in Gaza.
In an interview with the Gaza Lifeline program on BBC Arabic, Dr. Matar said, "It is rare to meet a person like him in your life because this doctor worked all his life with dedication and used to make tremendous efforts at the expense of himself."
His late colleague was someone who was "loved by everyone and his smile never went away," according to him, and he characterized him as someone who never got tired of working from day to day.
Francesca Albanese, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in the West Bank and Gaza, expressed her "extreme alarm" at the news of Dr. Al-Bursh's death and urged the diplomatic community to take meaningful actions to safeguard Palestinians.
While this was going on, a spokesperson for the White House named Karine Jean-Pierre said that President Joe Biden had a conversation with Israel about the need to safeguard humanitarian workers in Gaza.
The president has stated quite clearly, "We need to protect those who are providing that all-important care, humanitarian aid, and humanitarian care in Gaza." "They need to be protected." It is important to safeguard them. Therefore, it is without a doubt that such talks are going to continue," she pointed out.
"We believe that certainly... the Israeli government has made efforts to do just that and has taken into account our concerns, so we're going to continue to have those conversations, but it is heartbreaking to hear."
With the death of Dr. Al-Bursh, Israel has now murdered 496 medical professionals since the onslaught on October 7, according to a statement from the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza.
There were also reports of 1,500 additional injuries and 309 detentions.
Israel asserts that Hamas utilizes medical facilities as a cover for military activities, despite the fact that Hamas disputes this assertion. International law protects medical facilities.
The BBC has contacted the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to request a statement.
Israel-Gaza war
