A report by Physicians for Human Rights – Israel (PHRI) released last month revealed that that Israeli doctors condone the mistreatment of Palestinian prisoners — particularly those in solitary confinement — as a matter of routine, in violation of medical ethics and international law that in some cases equates solitary confinement to torture.
The report was released as Israel’s medical community was already under scrutiny, after repeated witness reports since an increase in violence in October of the Israeli military preventing Palestinian ambulances from reaching injured or dying Palestinians while Israeli paramedics failed to treat them.
Physicians for Human Rights- Israel report explains how Israel's "moral" tactics in Gaza really work: https://t.co/zTFxGynklX
— Washington Report (@WRMEA) April 27, 2016
Detention and violence carried out by Israeli forces against Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territory are frequently documented, but torture of prisoners and wide scale medical negligence by Israeli Prison Service (IPS) doctors goes largely undocumented, leaving little room to hold Israel accountable for grave violations against detainees.
Author of PHRI’s report Ola Shtiwi said that IPS doctors are involved in a prisoner’s health from the moment they arrive to a detention center and throughout their custody in solitary confinement.
IPS doctors wear prison guard uniforms, and are addressed by military-style ranks like sergeant and corporal.
Physicians for Human Rights in Israel found that wounded Palestinians had been left untreated for as long as 2 hours in israeli ambulance.
— Juana Carrasco (@cubavence) April 22, 2016
Although IPS doctors are under the purview of the Ministry of Health, they are not regulated by the Israel Medical Association (IMA), and as a result are not bound to the IMA’s code of medical ethics, according to PHRI.
– Read more: Israeli doctors condone mistreatment of Palestinian prisoners in solitary confinement – Lily Leach, MAAN
