Oxford surgeon's shocking testimony about Palestinian prisoners
'Drones that mimicked the sounds of babies crying to persuade people to come out and rescue them, and then they were shot.'
A leading British surgeon, Professor Nick Maynard, returned from a humanitarian mission in Gaza, where he reported alarming medical and humanitarian crises affecting the region.
Speaking at a gathering in Oxford’s Town Hall titled “Palestinian Prisoners in Israeli Detention," Professor Maynard detailed the conditions he encountered, calling for immediate international support to address severe shortages in healthcare resources, electricity, and basic supplies.
At the even on November 12, Professor Maynard emphasised that imprisonment has been the main tool of oppression and control and really controlling the whole society. So nothing so new about all the work that prisoners face currently in the Israel prisons, but it's very shocking in the widespread manner of the rules of all these policies against sick prisoners, journalists, human rights defenders, politicians, and students.
Maynard also mentioned that the figures are from the west and east of Jerusalem, and they are not including those from the Gaza Strip.
“We know that children have been targeted. We know that more than 18,000 children have been killed. Now that equates to nearly 50 children on average per day." He said.
Professor Maynard shared his testimony regarding the torture and mistreatment of detainees, and he recounted the experiences of two young men, both of whom he had previously worked with during his last visit to Gaza.
He continued: “One of these men, a young operating theatre nurse, was detained for 51 days in December of the previous year. He was abducted from the Indonesian hospital and subjected to extensive torture during his imprisonment, a situation that left him physically and mentally scarred.
“The other, a young doctor, was abducted from the Nasser Hospital. The doctor talked about drones. He talked about quad-copters shooting people in the hospital, and in that hospital, the brother of a close friend of mine said he was shot in the operating theatre by a quadcopter whilst he was working. There were drones that mimicked the sounds of babies crying to persuade people to come out and rescue them, and then they were shot.”
“He was stripped naked with many others and left in large holes in the ground for 24 hours. He told that he was a doctor. He thought that might help, and he was then targeted much more viciously than the other citizens. On the first day, he was beaten, non stop, for 12 hours and interrogated. You're a doctor? beat, beat, beat. He was blindfolded and handcuffed for 24 hours a day throughout his 51 days in incarceration; he was not allowed to lie down. He had to sit or stay on his knees for that whole time; he was beaten every single day during his 51 days.
This surgeon mentioned a young man who was abducted from Indonesian hospital in December: He was arrested, handcuffed, blindfolded, put on his knees, stripped naked, and put in a large hole in the ground for three days; he was beaten with guns to the head. He was left unconscious. He woke up in prison, solitary confinement, minimal food, and water. He was then taken for interrogation and asked repeatedly about October 7.
Professor Maynard emphasised that “I could go on many, many stories like that, and there are many witnesses, but none of this is being reported. There is nothing being reported by the media. Our governments are ignoring this. Our governments have been given evidence, but telecoms are going on.”