Israeli forces abduct senior Gaza doctor, kill journalist near Red Cross field hospital - War on Gaza

Al-Ahram Weekly

6 days ago

Israeli forces abducted one of Gaza's most senior medical officials and killed multiple civilians, including a well-known journalist, in a deadly raid near a Red Cross field hospital in Rafah on Tuesday.
According to local sources and Palestinian media outlets, a special unit of the Israeli army launched an operation near an International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) field hospital west of Khan Younis.
Witnesses say Israeli commandos opened fire on civilians sitting outside a nearby cafeteria before targeting an ambulance escorting Dr. Marwan Shafiq Al-Hams, the director of field hospitals in Gaza and former head of the Mohammed Yousef Al-Najjar Hospital in Rafah.
Among the victims of the gunfire was journalist Tamer al-Zaanin. Another journalist, Ibrahim Abu Sh'aiba, was wounded in the same incident. The ambulance driver accompanying Dr. Al-Hams also sustained injuries after Israeli forces fired on the vehicle.
Dr. Al-Hams was forcibly taken by Israeli forces and transported to an interrogation centre in Rafah, according to Quds News Network and the Gaza Ministry of Health.
Hamas condemns the raid
In a statement, Hamas accused Israel of executing a deliberate campaign to dismantle Gaza's health infrastructure and intimidate medical personnel.
"The fascist occupation's abduction of Dr. Marwan Al-Hams ... represents a deliberate escalation in the ongoing criminal targeting of the medical sector and its personnel through killing, detention, and terror," the group said.
Hamas added that Israel bears full responsibility for Dr. Al-Hams' life and the safety of hundreds of detained medical professionals held in unknown or inhumane conditions.
The group urged international institutions, including the ICRC and the World Health Organization (WHO), to condemn the attack and demand the immediate release of detained doctors and paramedics.
Widespread outcry from health officials
The Gaza Ministry of Health issued a scathing statement, calling the abduction of Al-Hams a direct attack on the humanitarian sector and a grave breach of international humanitarian law, including provisions safeguarding medical workers and infrastructure in times of war.
"This unprecedented act represents a serious escalation and a direct attack on the voice of the sick, the hungry, and the suffering in the Gaza Strip," the Ministry said.
It emphasized that the raid fits into a pattern of systemic targeting of medical facilities and personnel since the onset of Israel's genocidal war in October 2023.
Al-Hams: A voice of medical resistance
Dr Marwan Shafiq Al-Hams was not just an administrator. A trained emergency medicine specialist, he had emerged as a vocal figure in Gaza's medical community since the war began.
As director of field hospitals, he became a key conduit between collapsing health facilities and the few remaining international aid networks still functioning in the Strip.
Earlier this month, Al-Hams warned that 47 percent of essential medicines in Gaza had been fully depleted, and that fuel stocks were insufficient to keep health facilities operating for even a single day.
Speaking to the BBC in June, he described the chaos inside Gaza's Nasser Medical Complex: "We originally had space for 25 beds," he said. "Now we have 42 patients hospitalized in the intensive care unit. They need blood, and we cannot find any."
In May, Al-Hams participated in a legal and advocacy webinar titled: Starvation as a Weapon: International Legal Responsibilities and the Diplomatic Convoy to Confront Deliberate Famine in Gaza.
His presentation drew a grim picture of Gaza's healthcare system, saying, 'Hospitals are overflowing with patients and the wounded, especially in intensive care and specialized units. There are no free beds — the only way a bed becomes available is if someone dies.'
Health system under siege
The raid marks only the latest in a long line of attacks on Gaza's healthcare infrastructure. A May 2025 report by Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) recorded over 1,400 healthcare workers killed since the war began. Israeli bombardment obliterated entire departments of hospitals, and over a third of Gaza's hospitals are no longer operational.
'Despite being protected under international law, Gaza's healthcare workers are being erased before the world's eyes,' MAP reported.
Similarly, leading Gaza paediatrician Dr Hussam Abu Safiya remains held in Ofer Prison—infamous for its harsh conditions—in critical condition after over six months in Israeli detention, his lawyer said to media outlets in early July.
Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia, was abducted by Israeli forces in December as part of a wave of arrests targeting Gaza's health workers.
Once weighing 100 kilograms, he has reportedly lost over 40 kilograms due to abuse, solitary confinement, and denial of medical care, according to his legal team.
As of July 2025, over half of all functioning health facilities are located in areas under Israeli evacuation orders, making them virtually inaccessible to displaced populations. Mobile clinics and field hospitals, like the one Dr Al-Hams was visiting at the time of his abduction, have become some of the last lifelines.
According to the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Office, Israel's ongoing attacks on medical institutions amount to a near-total collapse of Gaza's healthcare system. In a December 2024 report, the UN documented a consistent pattern of deadly strikes near hospitals and clinics, leaving patients—many of them critically ill children—without access to care.
Journalism under fire
The death of Tamer al-Zaanin has further underscored the deadly risks faced by media professionals in Gaza. According to the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS), at least 229 journalists have been killed since October 2023, making Gaza the most dangerous place on Earth for journalists today.
International press freedom groups, including Reporters Without Borders (RSF), the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), have compiled evidence indicating that the targeting of journalists is systematic.
CPJ Program Director Carlos Martinez de la Serna said, 'Since the war in Gaza started, journalists have been paying the highest price – their lives – for their reporting. Without protection, equipment, international presence, communications, or food and water, they are still doing their crucial jobs to tell the world the truth.'
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