Israel releases harrowing photo showing doctors, journalists rounded up at Gaza's Al-Shifa Hospital

The Israeli army has published a harrowing photo from its recent assault on Gaza's Al-Shifa Hospital, showing doctors, journalists and other civilians rounded up and kneeling with their hands restrained behind their backs.

Ramy Abdu, Chairman of human rights group Euro-Med, shared the image on X , identifying at least two of the detained men.

The photo shows ten visibly frightened men huddled together and wearing the notorious white detainee jump suits, used by the Israeli military in Gaza, with numbered banners around their heads.

"The image includes several doctors, including Dr. Murad Al-Qouqa, head of the orthopedic department, and a number of journalists, including veteran journalist Emad Al-Ifrangi," Abdu wrote.

Israel carried out a brutal two-week siege of the hospital in March, leaving behind a wasteland of destroyed buildings and graves containing dozens of dead bodies inside the grounds.

A World Health Organization delegation that visited the hospital shortly after described it as being reduced to ashes with a foul stench of decomposing bodies filling the air.

Israeli forces killed around 400 Palestinians in and around the hospital during the attack, Gaza's media office said at the time.

The Israeli army published a formal photo of its recent operations at Al-Shifa Hospital.

The image includes several doctors, including Dr. Murad Al-Qouqa, head of the orthopedic department, and a number of journalists, including veteran journalist Emad Al-Ifrangi. pic.twitter.com/9lMgnbuZqU

— Ramy Abdu| رامي عبده (@RamAbdu) May 15, 2024

The image is chillingly similar ones shared from Israeli operations in Gaza, showing civilians bound and in white jump suits shortly before their transfer to detention facilities where torture and maltreatment are said to be rife.

In December, Israeli forces rounded up dozens of Palestinian men in Beit Lahia, forcibly stripping the men and blindfolding them in the middle of the street. Among those abducted by the army at Beit Lahia was journalist Diaa Kahlout, Gaza bureau chief for The New Arab's Arabic-language sister site Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.

Kahlout, who was held for 33 days, said he was subjected to beatings and torture several times, particularly by agents of the Shin Bet, Israel's internal security agency.

Other civilians held by Israeli forces in Gaza have reported similar treatment, including allegations of sexual assault and torture, sometimes resulting in death.