It took even longer for the families, friends, and colleagues of Mohammed Al-Ran, a general surgeon at Kamal Adwan Hospital, to see him again. The physician was forcibly disappeared by the IOF and tortured for 46 days. He was recently released, naked, at the Karem Abu Salem crossing.
The surgeon originally chose to stay back at the hospital with a handful of other health staff and patients as the complex was evacuated. Then, the IOF threatened that they would bomb and destroy the whole hospital if Al-Ran did not surrender to them, recounted Bilal Azzam, a member of the Jordanian Medical Syndicate, during a first round of discussions on the rebuilding of the health system in Gaza.
He shared detention with other kidnapped Palestinian health workers, including Muhammad Abu Salmiya, the director of Al-Shifa Hospital. Of Abu Salmiya, Azzam said the IOF broke both of his hands and forced him to walk on all fours. “They put a chain around his neck and dragged him in front of people, and when they wanted to feed him, they brought him a plate and told him to eat like a dog.”