OThe accounts, some from doctors, confirm similar descriptions previously given by human rights groups of how the hospital operates, a white tent in the desert with a dozen beds.
Eight months after the start of Israel’s war against the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in the Gaza Strip, accusations of inhumane treatment at the Sde Teiman military field hospital are mounting and the Israeli government is under increasing pressure to close it.
Israel says it holds only Hamas militants, but many patients turn out to be non-combatants and human rights groups and other critics charge that what began as a temporary place after the Hamas attack on Israeli soil on October 7, 2023 has turned into a severe detention center.
The military denies accusations of inhumane treatment and says all detainees who need medical care receive it.
The hospital is near the city of Beersheba in southern Israel and opened next to a detention center on a military base because some civilian hospitals refused to treat injured Palestinians.
Of the three workers interviewed by the AP, two spoke on condition of anonymity because they fear reprisals from the government and other Israeli powers.
“We are condemned by the left because we are not complying with ethical issues. We are condemned by the right because they think we are criminals for treating terrorists,” said Yoel Donchin, an anesthesiologist who has worked at Sde Teiman hospital since its early days and to this day.
Donchin, who nevertheless defended the installation of most of the allegations of mistreatment, criticized some of the practices, such as most patients being in diapers and not allowed to use the bathroom, or handcuffed and with their eyes closed. blindfolded.
“I don’t know what the safety reason is for this,” he said.
The military disputed these claims, telling the Associated Press that patients are handcuffed only “in cases where the security risk requires it.”
A soldier who worked at the hospital told how an elderly man underwent surgery on his leg without pain medication: “he was screaming and shaking”, he said.
Regarding medical treatments, the soldier reported that patients were housed in poor conditions, their wounds often developed infections and there was a putrefying smell in the air.
Israeli military officials announced this week that they had formed a commission to investigate conditions at the detention center, but it was not clear whether that included the hospital, and next week, Israel’s highest court is expected to hear from human rights groups trying to have the site is closed.
The Israeli authorities did not grant journalists or the International Committee of the Red Cross access to the Sde Teiman facilities.
Israel has detained about 4,000 Palestinians since October 7, 2023, according to official data, although about 1,500 were released after the military determined they were not affiliated with Hamas.
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Source: https://www.noticiasaominuto.com/mundo/2573209/funcionarios-relatam-condicoes-desumanas-em-hospital-para-palestinianos
